What are ecosystem services?

Ecosystem services are essential for maintaining life as we know it

ecosystem services

Sandy Millar's edited and resized image is available on Unsplash

An ecosystem is defined as a dynamic and complex relationship between plants, animals and communities of microorganisms and non-living elements (soil, water, air), all interacting in balance. Ecosystem services are the goods and services that we obtain from ecosystems directly or indirectly.

Nature provides us with many services and often we don't even realize the value of it. Did you know that the global value of ecosystem services is estimated at $125 trillion to $145 trillion per year? The well-being of the world's population and the economy depend on natural capital that, together, form the proper functioning of ecosystems, which provide us with several benefits. The structure of ecosystem services combines economic, ecological and sociological sectors and they are divided into four categories: provision, regulation, cultural and support.

  • Brazil releases the most complete summary of the country's biodiversity and ecosystem services

Provisioning Services

This category of ecosystem services encompasses all materials provided by the ecosystems we consume, whether food (fruits, roots, animals, honey, vegetables), raw materials for construction and fuel (wood, biomass, plant oils), drinking water ( quality and quantity), genetic or medicinal resources, among others.

regulation services

They encompass the functions of ecosystems as regulators of natural environmental conditions. For example: forests influence rainfall, water availability and soil quality, in addition to regulating the air by capturing pollutants. Trees store greenhouse gases: they take these gases out of the atmosphere and store them in their tissues, helping to regulate climate change. Ecosystems also act as a buffer zone for natural disasters - water bodies can decrease the chance of extreme flooding, mangroves and corals protect the coast from wave action. There are also water treatment functions by wetlands, pollination, biological control, among others.

cultural services

These ecosystem services represent the non-material benefits that ecosystems provide. They can offer physical and mental recreation, ecological tourism, studies on natural processes, aesthetic appreciation, spiritual enrichment, among others.

support services

They are ecosystem services needed for other services to exist. Indirectly and in the long term, they correspond to the formation of soil and habitats, nutrient cycle, oxygen production, among others. They also encompass the genetic variety that is responsible for the biodiversity of species in a location.

Examples of ecosystem services

Vegetation

Regulation of the hydrological cycle and climate, carbon sequestration, control of erosion on the riverbank, containment of sediments that would be carried to the water and could cause siltation, increase in water quality and control of water flow, avoiding floods.

River

Drinking water, fish, self-purification (ability to degrade pollutants naturally) and recreation.

Ground

Erosion control, nutrient cycling, water filtration and supply of aquifers and fertility to vegetation.

ecosystem as a whole

Scenic beauty, biodiversity, genetic and medicinal information.

These are just a few examples of ecosystem services provided. It is noteworthy that ecosystems are not all exactly the same; its characteristics change according to geography, soil composition, vegetation type, climate, among others. This means that ecosystem services coming from one location may be different from another.

Importance of ecosystem services

We depend entirely on ecosystem services. All the categories mentioned above are essential for the survival of this and future generations, so it is essential that decision-making consider the value of an environmental service based on the preservation of ecosystem services - in a long-term view. Remembering that an environmental service is any initiative, individual or collective, that favors the maintenance, recovery or improvement of ecosystem services.

To better illustrate the interaction between ecosystems and how human actions can affect an ecosystem service, read this case from India. In the early 1990s, India's vultures were nearly extinct, reducing their population by 99.9%. As India uses cattle only to produce milk (the Hindu culture does not allow eating meat), the vultures fed on the animals that died, performing the service of regulation. The drastic reduction of vultures occurred due to the use of a medicine for cattle, the diclofenac, which, when ingested, caused death by kidney failure in vultures. Cattle carcasses pose serious health risks as they are a means of reproduction for various diseases. There was also a huge increase in the population of wild dogs that began to feed on the carcasses, causing more than 47,000 deaths from human rabies transmitted by bites. Today the diclofenac is prohibited, but it will take a long time to restore the balance of this ecosystem service.

Trying to modify an ecosystem service without a full understanding of the impacts on other services is a very common mistake. But even with in-depth studies, some consequences are unpredictable, so actions must prioritize maintaining or improving the resilience capacity of ecosystems (the ability of the environment to return to its original state).

Stimuli are also needed to show people that ecosystem services have economic value and should be taken into account in decisions. This is the case of payment for environmental services (PES) and environmental valuation. This management instrument that occurs through incentives (monetary or not) for holders of areas subject to preservation aims at the preservation of ecosystem services through the provision of environmental services from the owners (understand the difference between environmental and ecosystem services). According to some views, attributing values ​​to environmental services, it will be possible to recognize dependence and the need to preserve ecosystems.

Check out the illustrative video to better understand ecosystem services.



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