Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services cover the many benefits that human communities derive from natural ecosystems. Such services are important for humans' survival and also their well-being, as they provide resources, regulate environmental conditions, and support life. This concept helps point out the importance of preserving ecosystems by calculating the value that an ecosystem contributes to human society.

1.0What are Ecosystem Services

• While much value comes from benefits that individual species provide to humans, the saving of individual species is only part of the reason to preserve ecosystems. Humans evolved in Earth's ecosystems, and we rely on these systems and their inhabitants for our survival. Ecosystem services encompass all the processes through which natural ecosystems help sustain human life. Ecosystems purify our air and water. They detoxify and break down our wastes and reduce the impacts of hailstorms and flooding. The organisms within ecosystems pollinate our crops, regulate pests, and develop and maintain our soils. Moreover, these varied services are free of charge.
• If we had to pay for them, how much would the services of natural ecosystems be worth? In 1997, scientists estimated that Earth's ecosystem services were worth $33 trillion per year, nearly twice the gross national product of all the countries on Earth at the time, $18 trillion. It may be more realistic to do the accounting on a smaller scale. The Catskill Mountains are the source of most of New York City's fresh water supplies.
• In 1996, the city spent more than $1 billion buying and restoring habitat there. It acted because sewage, pesticides, and fertilizers were increasingly polluting its water. Utilizing the ecosystem services by purifying water naturally, the city saved money that otherwise it would have spent constructing a new water treatment plant and saving $300 million a year operating the plant.
• This is increasing evidence that functioning of ecosystems, and hence their capacity to perform services, is linked to biodiversity. As human activities reduce biodiversity, we are reducing the capacity of the planet's ecosystems to perform processes critical to our own survival.

2.0Types of ecosystem services

Ecosystem services fall into four primary categories:

A. Provisioning Services: These are the products or resources that ecosystems offer to man, which include:

• Food: Plants, animals, and seafood, which people eat.
• Water: Freshwater for drinking, agriculture, and industrial purposes.
• Raw Materials: Timber, fibers, and many others that are used in building, clothing, and fuel.
• Medicinal Resources: Many pharmaceutical products have their origin in plants and animals living in natural ecosystems.
• Example: A forest provides timber for building and fuelwood for energy.

B. Regulating Services: These are the natural processes that help maintain balance in the environment. Regulating services include service functions whose importance is critical to climate stability, decrease in air pollution, and disaster prevention and mitigation, such as:

• Climate Regulation: Ecosystems such as forests and oceans absorb CO₂, allowing for a lesser impact of climate change.
• Regulation of water flow: Wetlands, forests, and grasslands control floods and droughts through the regulation of water flows within an ecosystem.
• Air quality regulation: The leafy parts of the plants take up pollutants from the air to improve the quality of the air in the surrounding region.
• Erosion control: The vegetative parts of the plants stabilize the soil through their ability to hold soil particles together. This prevents erosion and sedimentation in rivers.
• Pollination: Bees, birds, among others help in the reproduction of plants to ensure that fruits, vegetables, and seeds are in stock.
• Example: Wetlands function as natural water filters, where pollutants are absorbed and degraded before they find their way to lakes or rivers.

C. Cultural Services: It is that intangible human benefit extracted from ecosystems related to aesthetic, recreational, spiritual, and educational value, among which fall recreation. Natural areas provide possibilities for hiking, bird watching, or ecotourism activities.

• Aesthetic Value: Picturesque landscapes and biologically diverse areas add up to human life quality.
• Cultural Heritage: Many have strong attachments to certain ecosystems, like sacred forests or rivers.
• Spiritual Experiences: Much spirituality and religion are based in nature.
• Example: National parks provide an environment for recreation, spiritual rejuvenation, and solitude.

D. Supporting Services: These are the provisioning processes, including all the others, which underpin all other services that allow for proper functioning of the ecosystem. They include:

• Nutrient Cycling: Ecosystems recycle nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, both very important for plant growth.
• Soil Formation: Decomposing organic matter is an important part of how soil forms and is crucial to life.
• Photosynthesis: Plants use sunlight to produce food and oxygen for the living organisms.
• Maintenance of Biodiversity: Ecosystems sustain a wide variety of species, and every species helps ensure the resilience and productivity of an ecosystem.
• Example: A forest decomposes the fallen leaves and dead plants, enriching the soil through nutrient cycling.

3.0Importance of Ecosystem Services

• Human Survival: Most of the natural resources needed by man in terms of survival are directly obtained from nature. Such vital needs include clean air, water, food, and shelter.
• Economic Value: The importance of ecosystem services cannot be underestimated in economic terms. For instance, forests reduce the impact of floods and storms, hence saving billions of infrastructure damages and insurance costs.
• Biodiversity: Ecosystem services depend on biodiversity. Diverse ecosystems are typically more resilient and productive, making them better at supporting necessary services.
• Sustainability: Knowledge of ecosystem services promotes sustainable uses and also points out why natural ecosystems need preservation instead of unsustainable exploitation.

4.0Threats to Ecosystem Services

• Habitat Destruction: Cutting down forests, expanding cities, and agriculture reduces natural habitats; consequently, the capacity of ecosystems to offer services declines.
• Pollution: water, air, and soil pollution affects the functions of ecosystems both in quality of water, crop production, and biodiversity.
• Climate Change: global warming and extreme weather conditions pose threats to ecosystems that are unable to regulate climate and maintain biodiversity effectively.
• Overexploitation: overfishing, overhunting, and agricultural exploitation exhaust the resources faster than they can renew themselves.

5.0Conservation and Management of Ecosystem Services

(a)  Protected Areas: National parks and conservation areas protect the ecosystems and services in them.

(b) Sustainable Practices: Sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fisheries balance human needs with ecosystem health.

(c) Restoration Ecology: Restoring degraded systems may recover lost services-for example, reforestation, restoring water regulation and carbon sequestration.

(d) Policy and Legislation: This can be encouraged by the government through policies such as carbon pricing, pollution taxes, and conservation subsidies.

Note: It is through identifying the value of ecosystem services that societies can maintain the natural processes and resources which provide the basis for human well-being and environmental sustainability.