Sustainability and economics: controversy on the environmental valuation

In the topic of sustainable development, the assignment of value to ecosystem services is controversial. The economic science approaches it from two different perspectives: the traditional framework of neoclassical economy (environmental economics), and from an integral viewpoint where different sciences converge: ecological economics. This paper presents a critical review of the conventional economic theory related to sustainable development and highlights the need to assign values to ecosystem services for a comprehensive decision-making process which take into account individual and social preferences, and this way, advance to reach the central goals of sustainable development: economic efficiency, social justice and ecological sustainability.