Social Perception and Supply of Ecosystem Services — A Watershed Approach for Carbon Related Ecosystem Services

Over the past two decades research on ecosystem services, i.e. the benefits that humans derive from natural systems [1], has gained importance among scientists, managers, and policymakers worldwide as a way to communicate societal dependence on ecological life support systems integrating both natural and social science perspectives [2]. Ecosystem services can be direct benefits, such as food or freshwater for drinking, or indirect benefits through provisioning of services such as carbon sequestration [1]. Ecosystem services include 1) provisioning services obtained directly from the ecosystem such as food provision, 2) regu‐ lating services such as water regulation, habitat, air quality, and water quality, and 3) cultural services, which are the benefits that people obtain through tourism, aesthetic values, spiritual enrichment, and sense of place [3, 4].