evaluating the ecosystem costs and benefits, some programs have attempted to internalize those values with specific programs providing payments for environmental services. Costa Rica paid about $42/hectare for landowners to preserve forests; in 2010 Norway began paying Indonesia a total of $1 billion to mitigate deforestation; China responded to 1998 floods with payments targeting deforestation and soil erosion; and many other programs large and small. Controversies with and Limits to Ecosystem Valuations From an academic perspective, although scholarly research is quite rapidly adding to this field of understanding, many knowledge gaps still remain. For example, there is an inherent uncertainty in attempting to quantify non-market goods. As pointed to by de Groot et al., many environmental goods (such as clean air and biodiversity) are simply not traded in established markets. In addition, many environmental goods may be non-rival, non-excludable, and even inseparable goods with multiple value options further complicating any valuation. From an ethical and philosophical perspective, too, ecosystem valuation is far from uncontroversial. Arguments about the non-market valuation of ecosystem can be found by referring to environmental ethics and deep ecology. Since animals do not put explicit prices on ecosystems they use, but do behave as if they are valuable, e.g. by selecting one territory vs. another, defending their territories, etc., it is mostly a matter of definition whether ecology should include valuation as an issue. It may be anthropocentric to do so, since "valuation" more clearly refers to a human perception rather than being an "objective" attribute of the system perceived. Ecology itself is also human perception, and such related concepts as a food chain are constructed by humans to help them understand ecosystems. In many cases by those who hold that markets and pricing exist independently of any individual human observers and "users", and especially those who deem markets to be "out of control", ecosystem valuation is considered a (marginal, ignored) part of economics. Others argue that natural capital is an economic concept that is at least as viable as financial capital, which itself is determined on subjective valuation. Some even suggest that valuation of ecosystem services is more cogent than financial valuation, as the ecosystem would continue after the collapse of the economy, while the inverse is not valid. In addition, many fascinating questions about where ecosystem benefits go, and who should pay for those benefits, is an ongoing political debate. In one Washington city, residents