中文摘要：

为了给决策者和公众提供客观的生态系统状态信息,国际上开展了一系列的生态系统评估项目。这些生态系统评估可以归结为两个发展方向,一是从科学的角度客观公正地评估生态系统的状态,其主要代表是美国国家生态指标研究和美国生态系统的状态评估;二是在生态系统状态评估的基础上进一步分析生态系统与社会经济系统的联系以服务于后续的政策干预,其主要代表是千年生态系统评估和UNEP全球环境展望。综合分析这些案例发现,这些生态系统评估项目存在如下几个方面的特点或经验：①合适的生态指标是生态系统评估的科学基础;②合理的概念性评估框架是生态系统评估的核心支柱;③将生态系统与社会经济系统联系起来使评估结果能直接服务于政策;④生态系统管理的复杂性和长期性要求必须对生态系统进行连续滚动评估;⑤多利益相关方的参与是使生态系统评估的结果得到广泛认可和应用的最有效途径。如果能够将这两个发展方向结合起来,生态系统评估将能更好地服务于生态政策制定和区域可持续发展。

英文摘要：

In order to provide ecological information for public and decision-makers, some ecosystem assessment projects were implemented in the international society. Those cases could be classified into two development directions of ecosystem assessment： One inclined to report the state of ecosystems in an objective way, such as NRC report and Heinz＇s report; the other was prone to link the ecosystems to social-economic system so that concrete policy recommendations can be put forward, such as Millennium Ecosystem Assessment （MA） and Global Environ- ment Outlook（ UNEP GEO）. After those cases were analyzed comprehensively, some experiences or characteristics about those assessment projects were summarized as follows ： （ 1 ） Suitable ecological indicators should be identified ; （2） Reasonable conceptual framework is the core of ecosystem assessment ; （3） In order to put forward policy recommendations, the linkage between ecosystems and social economic systems should be established; （4）Ecosystem assessment should be repeated periodically or irregularly; （5）Stakeholders from government, the private sector, environmental organizations, academia and the general public should be involved. In order to make the assessments contribute to ecological policy-making and the regional sustainable development, the two development directions should be integrated.