Ecosystem services (ES) are the ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to sustainable human wellbeing. The ecosystems that provide the services are ‘natural capital’ (NC) using the general definition of capital as a stock that yields a flow of services over time. But these concepts must be embedded in a whole systems view of the interdependencies between humans and the rest of nature, as espoused by ecological economics from its inception. Valuing NC and ES is therefore about assessing their contributions (in complex interaction with built, human, and social capital) toward the goal of sustainable wellbeing of the whole system of humans and the rest of nature. This recognizes that sustainable human wellbeing cannot be achieved without the wellbeing of the rest of nature. To achieve this, an integrated approach to valuation toward the three sub-goals of efficient allocation (E-value), fair distribution (F-value) and sustainable scale (S-value) is necessary. This article reviews these ideas, and discusses an agenda to improve understanding and valuation of NC and ES toward the goals of efficiency, fairness, and sustainability in a dynamic, whole systems context.

生态系统服务（ES）是直接或间接有助于可持续人类福祉的生态特征，功能或过程。提供服务的生态系统是“自然资本”（NC），使用资本的一般定义是随着时间推移产生服务流的股票。但是，正如生态经济学从一开始就主张的那样，这些概念必须嵌入到人类与自然界之间相互依存的整个系统视图中。因此，重视NC和ES就是要评估其（与建筑，人力和社会资本进行复杂的互动）对整个系统可持续发展的贡献。人类和大自然的其余部分。这认识到没有自然的其余部分就无法实现可持续的人类福祉。为了实现这一目标，有必要采用一种综合方法对三个子目标进行评估，以实现有效分配（E值），公平分配（F值）和可持续规模（S值）。本文回顾了这些想法，并讨论了在动态的整个系统环境中朝着效率，公平和可持续性目标提高对NC和ES的理解和评估的议程。