As ecosystem assessments represent syntheses of knowledge on ecosystem status created to answer key policy questions, it is important to identify whether the dialogue between assessment practitioners and policy makers is delivering the goals which ecosystem assessment practitioners seek. A number of global and national ecosystem assessment processes are underway between now and 2020, and best practice in creating assessments which have stakeholder buy in and policy relevance is subject to continuing refinement. While there are few unequivocal examples of assessments driving policy change (due to political decision-making processes being affected by a multiplicity of considerations beyond the availability of evidence), building a strong case around which assessments have informed policy development will enhance future legitimacy of ecosystem assessments in political dialogue.

由于生态系统评估代表为回答关键政策问题而创建的有关生态系统状态的知识综合，因此重要的是确定评估从业者与决策者之间的对话是否正在实现生态系统评估从业者寻求的目标。从现在到2020年，许多全球和国家的生态系统评估过程正在进行中，创建具有利益相关者认同和政策相关性的评估的最佳实践正在不断完善。尽管几乎没有明确的例子可以评估推动政策变化的情况（由于政治决策过程受到证据之外的众多考虑因素的影响），