Biologists Unite

An inside account of the meteoric rise and disillusioning fall of ecosystem services—an idea once heralded as the way forward for conservation.

Biologists Unite explores political realignments in global biodiversity conservation through the story of ecosystem services: an emergent field of science dedicated to analyzing, and where possible measuring, the many valuable “services” nature provides to humanity. What is at stake in ongoing attempts to recast nature as “natural capital”? Why did this way of thinking gain such widespread currency among conservationists? And what can the contemporary embrace of nature-based solutions like ecosystem services tell us about the changing politics of environmentalism more broadly?

Daniel Chiu Suarez offers an intimate, inside perspective on these hotly debated questions: an ethnographic portrait of ecosystem services shown through the predicaments of its core champions — chief among them, life scientists, endeavoring to “mainstream” the idea across a range of governance contexts — as they were forced to learn on the job (and very much the hard way) how to reckon with the political character and radical implications of our dire planetary conjuncture.

Drawing on years of participant observation conducted around two influential initiatives — the Natural Capital Project and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) — the book narrates the meteoric rise of ecosystem services, but also how fragile this strategy turned out to be when put to the test.“To chart the meteoric rise of ‘ecosystem services,’ an evangelized solution to the global biodiversity crisis, requires a history-spanning ambition. To further document the feelings of its practitioners, the ambivalence of its adherents, and the confusions of its critics conversely necessitates a subtle touch and an empathic soul. Daniel Chiu Suarez possesses all these qualities in surplus and demonstrates them in compelling narratives from the heart of the conservation machine. An astounding achievement.”
—Paul Robbins, Dean, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin

“A fascinating critical exploration of words, power, and the power of words—figuring out how to make humans, especially decision-making ones, value the world they inhabit is an ongoing and crucial task.”
—Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

“Drawing on ten years of fieldwork inside major conservation organizations, Suarez illuminates how biologists have increasingly come to question the efficacy and ethics of the current ecosystem services paradigm, and to envision a more radical version focused on changing capitalism rather than working within it.”
—Rebecca Lave, former President of the American Association of Geographers; coauthor of Streams of Revenue

“In his new book, Biologists Unite, Suarez traces the meteoric rise and fall of [ecosystem services, a] pragmatic but ultimately doomed approach to conservation.”
—New ScientistDaniel Chiu Suarez is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and C.V. Starr Fellow in International Studies at Middlebury College.