Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES)—the benefits that humans derive from nature, such as clean water, fertile soil, and climate regulation—are fundamental to achieving sustainable development. Despite growing scientific efforts to assess these services, their integration into policy and decision-making processes remains strikingly limited. A recent semi-systematic literature review by Walther et al. (2025) investigates the reasons behind this disconnect and explores pathways to enhance the policy relevance of ES assessments.