Taking a closer look at the economics of nature opens a way of reasoning that might be especially helpful for decision-makers. One prerequisite for good governance is to real-ize and appreciate nature´s different services and their contributions and values for society.
After decades of limitation of production factors to labour and capital, economic theory has rediscovered the capacity of nature as an additional production factor that provides humans with goods and services to meet physical, social and ethical needs. This also has implica-tions for the central economic reporting systems. In contrast to man-made capital, natural capital always has multiple functions - a hedge provides pollination, pest control, a favoura-ble growth climate, erosion reduction, while preserving biodiversity. Integrating all these functions into economic accounting is, of course, a great challenge. It gives hope that this challenge will now be taken up.