Going Upstream — How the Purpose of a Conceptual Framework for Ecosystem Services Determines Its Structure

Conceptual frameworks for ecosystem services of (ESCF), such as the cascade framework, have been used for various purposes. In this paper we demonstrate that the structure and content of ESCF are tailored to the user's specific concerns. We discuss which requirements an ESCF needs to fulfil in relation to two cases: when it acts as an organizing structure and when it serves as a model for the valuation of ecosystems in terms of their contribution to human well-being. Although such a framework will need to fulfil different requirements for each of these purposes, we provide some general recommendations for development, the most important ones being to include human well-being in the framework, to value ES functions, services and benefits, and to define the ESCF components first and foremost in terms of their relation to human well-being.