The assertion that ‘ecosystems are infrastructure’ is now common in conservation science and ecosystem management. This article interrogates this infrastructural ontology, which we argue underpins diverse practices of conservation investment and ecosystem management focused on the strategic management of ecosystem functions to sustain and secure human life. We trace the genealogies and geographies of infrastructural nature as an ontology and paradigm of investment that coexists (sometimes in tension) with extractivist commodity regimes. We draw links between literatures on the political economy of ecosystem services and infrastructure and highlight three themes that hold promise for future research: labor, territory, and finance.

“生态系统是基础设施”的断言现在在保护科学和生态系统管理中很常见。本文探讨了这种基础设施本体，我们认为它支持保护投资和生态系统管理的各种实践，重点是生态系统功能的战略管理，以维持和保障人类生命。我们将基础设施性质的谱系和地理作为一种本体论和投资范式，与采掘主义商品制度共存（有时处于紧张状态）。我们将有关生态系统服务和基础设施的政治经济学的文献联系起来，并强调了对未来研究有希望的三个主题：劳动力、领土和金融。