Biodiversity is life, and it is the basis for our lives and livelihoods.
Yet in an increasingly urban, technological world, we lose touch with the irreplaceable role that healthy ecosystems play in supporting human life. We also lose sight of the economic value that biodiversity injects into the economy, real money in real time. Global estimates suggest that ecosystem services may be worth trillions of dollars annually. Better estimates of the economic value of key ecosystem services in specific ecosystems need to be developed, and then integrated into regional and global estimates. Effective ways to communicate these findings to decision makers and a broad public should be designed and deployed.