EDITORIALValuing environmental goods and services using benefit transfer: The state-of-the art and science

The purpose of this special issue of Ecological Economics is to elucidate the state-of-the-art and science of environmental benefit transfer and to assist in the design and reporting of future benefit estimation research. Compiling the insights of thirty-two international experts from seven countries, the special issue reviews the latest developments in transfer techniques, as well as ongoing efforts to standardize and validate them. Taken together, the papers in this special issue provide fresh answers to some long-standing questions, offer original research insights on state-of-the-art issues and identify fruitful areas for future research. This introductory paper provides background and context for the issues addressed by the contributing authors. Its purpose is to place the interdisciplinary thinking contained here in a comparative context, highlighting the need for integration and collaboration to maintain the momentum that has propelled environmental benefit transfer into a widely used approach for estimating the economic value of environmental goods and services worldwide.