Incentives, land use, and ecosystem services: Synthesizing complex linkages

► Here I synthesize the impact of incentives on ecosystem services via land use change. ► Incentives influence land use changes which affect multiple ecosystem services. ► Linkages vary over space and time, may be non-linear, and include feedbacks. ► Quantifying linkages are essential to capture incentive synergies and avoid tensions. ► Advancement in the modeling of linkages is required.