From soil sciences to soil economics: A cross-analysis of natural capital and soil ecosystem service provision

Abstract

Soil has played and continues to play a key role on Earth since the beginning of terrestrial life. It represents a stock of natural capital from which a variety of ecosystem services are derived. There is a growing awareness of its contribution to socio-economic activities and various research fields have undertaken studies to better understand its formation (pedogenesis), properties (physical, chemical and biological), functioning, evolution, benefits and means of conservation. Through an exploratory literature review, we analyze how disciplines such as soil science, ecology and economics have dealt with the issue of soil. We also examine how economics integrates the concept of natural capital into mainstream production economic models. The results show that the concept of natural capital has not been developed beyond economics, although its conceptualization and popularization can be attributed to ecological economics. The analyses also show that the concept of natural capital is not well taken into account in economic models of production.