Challenges and opportunities for the Ecosystem Services approach: Evaluating experiences of implementation in Sweden

The Ecosystem Services (ES) concept has attracted substantial interest among researchers and policymakers alike, and there are hopes that it can facilitate much needed policy changes and actions. Implementing it has proved challenging, however. Elaborating on a theoretical framework of key governance elements, and drawing on new empirical findings about the introduction and implementation of ES in Sweden, this paper aims to further the understanding of challenges and opportunities for implementing the ES approach as experienced by policy actors and to discuss its implications for the ability of ES to strengthen environmental governance. The findings show how the ES approach provides important opportunities for (horizontal) integration, professional communication, and networking, but also that further implementation has been hindered by a lack of co-ordination, public participation, and institutionalization. Based on the findings, and with the aim of strengthening the impact of ES on environmental governance, three critical issues in need of elaboration and further debate are discussed: institutionalization, reappraisal of the role of economic valuation, and interest mediation.