Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services—Legal Aspects

Ecosystem services are defined as the conditions through which “natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life” (R. Costanza). In other words, they are “benefits people obtain from ecosystems” (Reid et al.). Strictly linked to ecosystem services, natural capital can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets. Although these notions are the results of ecological and economic reflections, natural capital and ecosystem services are gaining more and more consideration in European and Italian legislation. On that basis, we will describe the legal framework and modes of applications that can be pointed out nowadays. In particular, we will focus on Payments for Ecosystem Service, or “PES programs,” which is the specific kind of contract in which landowners or communities are remunerated for managing their land to produce one or more ecosystem services. Indeed, more and more frequently PES are chosen as a valid option to safeguard biodiversity. Furthermore, we will discuss the possibility to consider as Payments for Ecosystem Services some juridical instruments—already in force—with the same “ratio” but traditionally not included in “PES programs,” also with reference to the opportunities offered by EU environmental policies to protect nature and in particular on the PNRR.