This paper presents a global synthesis of economic values for ecosystem services provided by 15 terrestrial and marine biomes. Information from over 1,300 studies, yielding over 9,400 value estimates in monetary units, has been collected and organised in the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD). This is a substantial expansion of data since the de Groot et al. (2012) description of the ESVD and provides an important juncture to explore developments in the use of valuation methods and the contexts in which valuations are conducted.

The report provides a framework for ensuring that marine spatial planning (MSP) does not worsen poverty and gender inequality in developing countries, and that potentially marginalised groups are appropriately considered and engaged in the MSP process.

This report provides guidelines for the steps of a more inclusive MSP process.

The findings indicate that a scorecard can be used to guide the social sustainability of the MSP process. The criteria in the scorecard include:

Using household surveys and spatial geographic data, we are able to control for socioeconomic and geographic characteristics at the individual and census-tract levels. Our results suggest that while payments did not affect poverty rates at the national level, poverty did increase in places where PES had the greatest effect on deforestation. This effect is stronger for uneducated males, who tend to work in agricultural activities.