The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has taken the environmental science and policy literature by storm, and has become almost the approach to thinking about and assessing the nature-society relationship. In this review, we ask whether and in what way the ES concept is a useful way of organising research on the nature-society relationship. We trace the evolution of the different versions of the concept and identify key points of convergence and divergence. The essence of the concept nevertheless is that the contribution of biotic nature to human well-being is unrecognised and undervalued, which results in destruction of ecosystems. We discuss why this formulation has attracted ecologists and summarise the resultant contributions to research, particularly to the understanding of indirect or regulating services. We then outline three sets of weaknesses in the ES framework: confusion over ecosystem functions and biodiversity, omission of dis-services, trade-offs and abiotic nature, and the use of an economic valuation framework to measure and aggregate human well-being. Underlying these weaknesses is a narrow problem frame that is unidimensional in its environmental concern and techno-economic in its explanation of environmental degradation. We argue that an alternative framing that embraces broader concerns and incorporates multiple explanations would be more useful, and outline how this approach to understanding the nature-society relationship may be implemented.

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Recent years have seen greater of®cial recognition and support for community-based natural resource management in hillside systems globally. In the Middle Hills of Nepal, this has led to adoption of Community Forestry with communities keen to conserve forest resources through greater control of access to forest resources. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of Community Forestry on agricultural sustainability using Participatory Learning and Action Research (PLAR) methods and soil and compost nutrient analyses to assess the nutrient balance for rainfed and irrigated ®elds. Studies demonstrate a yield dependence on annual nutrient inputs to ®elds, but a remaining positive balance of nutrient inputs. Concerns over soil degradation associated with increasing urea fertilizer dependence highlight the vital role played by organic compost inputs to the soils typi®ed by very low organic carbon concentrations. The ®ndings from two study villages show that Community Forestry has not yet had a major impact (either positive or negative) on farming systems and therefore the majority of rural livelihoods. However, opportunities are recognized that would increase the quantity and quality of compost supply, and consequently crop yields. Increases in natural capital (subcanopy plants) and the increased social capital (provided by Forest User Groups) offer the means through which potential increases to compost materials can be obtained and through which knowledge of the potentials of, and techniques for, improving compost supply could be disseminated. It is such strategies, which go beyond the traditional focus on forests, that will enable Community Forestry in Nepal (which already has many achievements) to realize its full potential in maintaining and improving the livelihoods of the hill farming communities it is intended to assist.