Effectively conserving ecosystem services in order to maintain human wellbeing is a global need that requires an understanding of where ecosystem services are produced by ecosystems and where people benefit from these services. However, approaches to effectively identify key locations that have the capacity to supply ecosystem services and actually contribute to meeting human demand for those services are lacking at broad spatial scales. We developed new methods that integrate measures of the capacity of ecosystems to provide services with indicators of human demand and ability to access these services. We then identified important areas for three ecosystem services currently central to protected area management in Canada—carbon storage, freshwater, and nature-based recreation—and evaluated how these hotspots align with Canada’s current protected areas and resource development tenures. We find that locations of ecosystem service capacity overlap only weakly (27–36%) with actual service providing areas (incorporating human access and demand). Overlapping hotspots of provision for multiple ecosystem services are also extremely limited across Canada; only 1.2% (∼56 000 km²) of the total ecosystem service hotspot area in Canada consists of overlap between all three ecosystem services. Canada’s current protected area network also targets service capacity to a greater degree than provision. Finally, one-half to two-thirds of current ecosystem service hotspots (54–66%) overlap with current and planned resource extraction activities. Our analysis demonstrates how to identify areas where conservation and ecosystem service management actions should be focused to more effectively target ecosystem services to ensure that critical areas for ecosystem services that directly benefit people are conserved. Further development of these methods at national scales to assess ecosystem service capacity and demand and integrate this with conventional biodiversity and conservation planning information will help ensure that both biodiversity and ecosystem services are effectively safeguarded.

有效维护生态系统服务以维持人类福祉是一项全球需求，需要了解生态系统在哪里生产生态系统服务以及人们从这些服务中受益。但是，在广泛的空间尺度上，缺乏有效地确定具有提供生态系统服务能力并实际上有助于满足人类对这些服务需求的关键位置的方法。我们开发了新方法，这些方法整合了对生态系统提供服务的能力进行度量的指标，这些指标提供了人类需求和获得这些服务的能力的指标。然后，我们确定了三个生态系统服务的重要区域，这些服务目前是加拿大保护区管理的核心-碳储存，淡水，以及基于自然的娱乐活动，并评估了这些热点如何与加拿大目前的保护区和资源开发权保持一致。我们发现，生态系统服务能力的位置与实际服务提供区域（结合了人类的获取和需求）仅微弱地重叠（27-36％）。在加拿大，提供多种生态系统服务的重叠热点也极为有限；仅1.2％（〜56 000公里²）在加拿大生态系统服务总热点区域中，所有三种生态系统服务之间都有重叠。加拿大目前的保护区网络也将服务能力的目标放在了规定之外。最后，当前生态系统服务热点的一半到三分之二（54-66％）与当前和计划中的资源开采活动重叠。我们的分析表明，如何确定应该重点关注保护和生态系统服务管理措施的区域，以便更有效地针对生态系统服务，以确保保护直接惠及人类的生态系统服务的关键区域。