Ecosystem Services Partnership

What Ecosystem Services Partnership does

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) is a worldwide professional network connecting over 3,000 ecosystem services scientists, policy makers, and practitioners across more than 40 countries. Headquartered with the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Wageningen, Netherlands, and supported by an Asia Regional Office in Bangkok, ESP organizes its community through 40+ Working Groups structured along three axes: Thematic (20 groups covering assessment frameworks, valuation, biodiversity, health, DRR, financing, and more), Biome (10 groups from marine to urban systems), and Sectoral (11 groups spanning agriculture, forestry, mining, water, business, tourism, conservation, and indigenous communities). The partnership also operates Regional Chapters and National Networks across all continents, including active programs in the USA, Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands, India, Indonesia, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, and elsewhere.

ESP's core offerings center on a Member Portal for collaboration, document sharing, and discussion, complemented by flagship events including the biennial World Conference (2025/2026 in Prague) and regional conferences. Supporting services include the ESP Summer School, a Webinar Series, journal partnerships, guidelines and toolkits, a case studies and key sites repository, the monthly ESP Update newsletter, and the Young ES Specialists (YESS) early-career network. Strategic partnerships extend ESP's reach through EU-funded projects (SELINA, ESMERALDA, LIFE ProForPES), the Eklipse expert network, and the We Value Nature community platform hosted with FSD.

The business model is a non-profit subscription-and-event structure. Revenue derives from individual and institutional membership fees (annual recurring), conference registration fees (with member discounts, e.g., 20% off the Third International Conference on Health and Biodiversity), and corporate/organizational sponsorships. ESP is currently hosted by the Foundation for Sustainable Development, with proposals advanced at the 2025 General Assembly in Prague to establish ESP as an independent legal entity.

Name

Ecosystem Services Partnership

Legal name

Ecosystem Services Partnership

Website

https://es-partnership.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) is a worldwide non-profit network connecting 3,000+ ecosystem services scientists, policy makers, and practitioners across 40+ countries through 40+ working groups, regional chapters, conferences, and a member collaboration portal.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Scientific Association / Environmental Research Network

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

ESG, Sustainability & Impact Research (BPAHALAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Stakeholder Engagement & ESG Governance (Policies, KPIs, incentives) (EUAHAJAJ)

Keywords

• Ecosystem services research
• Professional scientific network
• Environmental policy collaboration
• Biodiversity conservation science
• Sustainability education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Wageningen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Membership: Annual membership fees for individual professionals including scientists, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in the ecosystem services field.
2. Institutional Membership: Organizational membership for institutions, universities, research centers, and organizations working in ecosystem services.
3. Conference Revenue: Registration fees from World and Regional conferences including the upcoming World Conference 2025 in Prague and Europe 2026 conference.
4. Sponsorships: Corporate and organizational sponsors support ESP activities and receive visibility through the partnership's platforms and events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) operates a worldwide membership-based professional network that connects ecosystem services scientists, policy makers, and practitioners. Its core offering is paid annual Membership (individual and institutional tiers) bundled with access to the ESP Member Portal, 40+ Thematic/Biome/Sectoral Working Groups, Regional Chapters and National Networks, World and Regional Conferences, and educational programs (Summer School, Webinars, YESS early-career network). Revenue is also generated from conference registration fees and corporate/organizational sponsorships that support the partnership's global activities.

Product overview

The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) is a worldwide professional network connecting over 3000 ecosystem services scientists, policy makers and practitioners across all continents. The organization operates through a platform-plus-services model centered on its Member Portal, which enables members to connect, share documents, and collaborate. The core offerings include more than 40 Working Groups (Thematic, Biome, and Sectoral) and Regional Chapters/National Networks spanning over 40 countries. Supporting services include World and Regional Conferences, ESP Summer School, ESP Webinar Series, ESP Journals, Data and Knowledge Sharing, Guidelines and Toolkits, Case Studies and Key Sites, and the Young ES Specialists (YESS) early-career network. The organization also facilitates networking and collaboration through its community portal and regular newsletter.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Young ES Specialists (YESS): ESP's early-career collaboration unit for young ecosystem services specialists
• ESP Summer School
• ESP Webinar Series

Products and services

• ESP Membership (Individual and Institutional) Annual membership offering individual and institutional tiers that provide access to the ESP Member Portal, 40+ Working Groups, Regional Chapters and National Networks, conference discounts, the ESP Update Newsletter, and member-only knowledge resources. Designed for ecosystem services scientists, policy makers, practitioners, and the universities, research institutions, and NGOs that employ them.
• ESP World and Regional Conferences Regularly organized international and regional conferences bringing together ecosystem services scientists, policy makers, and practitioners, including the World Conference 2025 in Prague and the Europe 2026 conference, with discounted registration for ESP members.
• ESP Summer School Annual summer school program providing education and training in ecosystem services for students and early-career professionals, delivered through the partnership's education and training services.
• ESP Webinar Series Regular webinar series providing ongoing education and knowledge sharing on ecosystem services topics and methodologies for the ESP community.
• ESP Journals Partnership with scientific journals that gives ESP members access to ecosystem services publications and special pricing on subscriptions.

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFSD hosts the ESP Secretariat, providing administrative infrastructure and organizational support for the partnership's global operations. The foundation manages the We Value Nature platform, a new global online community platform for collaboration on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• SELINA ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon project partnership focused on sustainability and ecosystem services research, with coordination on national Community of Practice initiatives.
• ESMERALDA ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded project supporting the MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services) process in Europe, with ESP involvement in methods and integrated assessments.
• ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch organization collaborating with ESP through regional chapter leads in South & South-East Asia, including Indonesia (Leimona Beria from ICRAF).
• Young ES Specialists (YESS)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly-career collaboration unit within ESP focused on supporting young researchers and practitioners in the ecosystem services field.
• Bulgarian Geographical Society (BGS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner for GeoNight2024 events on scientific publishing, jointly organized with YESS.
• LIFE ProForPES ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU LIFE project developing framework for assessment of PES mechanisms in European forests, with ESP sharing project outputs through publications.
• EklipseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpert working group network contributing knowledge synthesis on nature-based solutions and ecosystem services topics.
• We Value NaturemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal online community platform launched by FSD for people from science, policy, practice, education, business and society to collaborate on biodiversity and ecosystem services. ESP members receive free pilot access.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS): International professional society of wetland and aquatic ecosystem scientists with regional chapters, working groups, annual meetings and journals. Matches ESP's network-of-networks model for a narrower ecosystem subset of the same scientific community.
• International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA): Global membership association of practitioners and researchers in environmental impact assessment, valuation and related policy areas. Comparable to ESP for its working-group structure, annual conferences and focus on applying science to policy and practice decisions affecting ecosystems.
• Society for Ecological Restoration (SER): International membership organization for the science and practice of ecological restoration with regional chapters, working groups, journals and an annual world conference. Closely matches ESP's practitioner-academic, conference-driven model targeting ecosystem recovery topics.
• Society for Conservation Biology (SCB): International professional society of conservation biologists and practitioners organized around working groups, regional chapters, conferences and publications. Closely mirrors ESP's structure of working groups, conferences and member-driven knowledge sharing in the ecology/conservation space.

Emerging players

• Natural Capital Coalition: Multi-stakeholder collaboration developing the Natural Capital Protocol and corporate valuation frameworks. Directly overlaps with ESP's Sectoral WG on ES in Business and integrated valuation, targeting the same corporate ESG user base with methodology and toolkits.
• International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE): Global interdisciplinary membership society bridging ecology and economics with biennial conferences, regional nodes and working groups. Directly comparable to ESP where the two organizations overlap on integrated valuation of ES, payments for ecosystem services, and sustainability research.

Broad incumbents

• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): Global membership-based union of governmental and civil society organizations focused on nature conservation. Highly comparable to ESP as a similarly structured, mission-driven, dues-funded international network convening scientists and policymakers across ecosystems.
• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): Intergovernmental body assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services globally with scientists, policymakers and knowledge holders. Comparable in mission and tripartite membership model (science/policy/practice), but functions at government mandate rather than association scale.
• Ecological Society of America (ESA): Large professional scientific society for ecologists, with sections, annual meetings and journals. Comparable to ESP in its membership, conferences and working-group style structure, though focused more broadly on ecology than ecosystem services specifically.

Regional players

• British Ecological Society (BES): Long-standing UK-rooted learned society for ecologists with journals, conferences, grants and working groups. Comparable to ESP's scientific-membership, conference-and-publications operating model though focused geographically on the UK and Ireland.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ecosystem-services-partnership

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Ecosystem Services Partnership