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Concepts of environmental services and ecosystem services are distinct. Understand the main differences

Many refer to environmental services and ecosystem services as if they were the same thing, as there is still no official definition for each of the concepts. But according to Bill 312/15 and some specialized literature, there is a difference between environmental services and ecosystem services.

The definition of ecosystem services is based on the benefits that humanity manages to obtain from ecosystems directly or indirectly - for example: obtaining wood, regulating the climate and the water cycle. These natural ecosystems must be preserved to maintain the quality and functioning of the services provided. The human activities that contribute to the maintenance, restoration or improvement of ecosystem services are environmental services.

• What are environmental services?
• What are ecosystem services? Understand

That is, we can be responsible for performing environmental services through the management of natural systems, but we cannot perform ecosystem services - these can only be done by nature. This task can become an attuned relationship between humanity and nature, as we are helping the environment to provide its services instead of destroying it. Or rather, we are repairing mistakes made in the past.

To better illustrate this difference, let's think of a forest. Trees have several functions in the environment, whether regulatory, provision, cultural or supportive. Let's use the example of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, which indirectly influences local and even global climate regulation. This absorption of CO2 corresponds to one of the forest's ecosystem services. When human activities lead to forest degradation, such as deforestation and burning, balance and ecosystem functions are compromised, along with the benefits obtained by us.

As a result, forests not only fail to capture CO2 but also release the carbon accumulated in their biomass into the atmosphere. To return to the system's initial balance, we have to adopt management actions to recover the deforested area. Reforestation with native trees is a solution for restoring the lost ecosystem; the preservation of other remaining areas is also important for recovery. Reforestation and the preservation of areas can be considered an environmental service - both performed by human beings in order to obtain the benefits of the forest's ecosystem services.

The Payment for Environmental Services (PES) is an instrument that serves for the environmental service provider to be remunerated by those who benefit from the ecosystem service. In the example above, the PES could be used to pay owners of environmentally relevant areas as an incentive to conserve vegetation. Valuing natural capital is also a tool to encourage environmental services and preserve ecosystem services, according to some views.