Ecosystems, and the plant and animal species that
constitute them, provide a host of services to all living
things (Daily 1997), including:
- regulating
global processes, the regulation of atmospheric
gases that affect global and local climates and the air we
breathe;
- soil and water conservation,
maintaining the hydrologic cycle and controlling erosion;
- nutrient cycling, the control of
nutrient and energy flow through the planet, for example,
waste decomposition and detoxification, soil renewal, nitrogen
fixation, and photosynthesis;
- a genetic library which provides a
source of information to create better agricultural crops or
livestock;
- maintenance of plant reproduction through
pollination and seed dispersal, in those
plants we rely on for food, clothing or shelter;
- control of agricultural pests and
disease;
- provide a source of inspiration to
solve agricultural, medical, manufacturing problems;
and
- provide tourism and recreation
opportunities.
Often the values of ecosystem services are not considered in
commercial market analyses, despite their critical importance to
human survival. How can we assign a value to the atmospheric
regulation of oxygen? In some ways, its value is infinite since
without it we could not survive. Also many ecosystem services
cannot be replaced or if they can, it is only at considerable
cost. An attempt to estimate the value of ecosystem services was
made by
Costanza et
al. (1997). According to the study, the earth
provides a minimum of $16 to $54 trillion dollars worth of
"services" to humans per year.
This estimate is based on
the value of 15 ecosystem services and two goods in 16
biomes.
Many services provided by biodiversity go beyond
what is needed for our immediate survival, including the many
cultural, spiritual, and aesthetic values people place on nature
and natural areas. Some feel that people have an innate connection
or kinship with nature. Nature also provides insight and
understanding of our role in the world, and has value for
education, as well as for scientific research. Furthermore, each
species has an ecological value as part of an ecosystem and
species diversity contributes to ecosystem resilience.
-
Daily, G.C. (Ed.). (1997). Natures' Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C., U.S.A.: Island Press.
-
Costanza, R., R.d'Arge, R. de Groot, S. Farber, M. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S. Naeem, R.V. O'Neill, J. Paruelo, R.G. Raskin, P. Sutton, and M. van den Belt. (1997). The Values of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital. Nature, 387, 253-260.
