Ecosystem services are the myriad benefits humans obtain from nature, both tangible and intangible. The conceptual framework around ecosystem services spans multiple systems, disciplines, ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies and provides a systems approach to understanding ecology, biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. This is the premise of this short book. It is not intended to be a comprehensive reference guide to methodology, practice or management. Rather, it has a simpler, but perhaps more important aim – to demonstrate why it is essential that we use systems approaches for ecosystem service discussions.