Does slow and steady win the race? Ecosystem services in Canadian and Chilean environmental law

This paper examines and compares the extent to which ecosystem services have been incorporated in Canadian and Chilean environmental law and policy. The focus is on the adjudication of environmental disputes but the analysis is contextualized by the broader environmental law and policy developments of each country. As will be seen, Canada's judiciary was relatively quick to embrace ecosystem services but subsequent progress has been slow. In Chile, on the other hand, ecosystem services have been referred to only recently but that country's Environment Courts appear intent on giving the concept a greater role in the resolution of environmental disputes.