The Ecosystem Approaches (Subject Area-Jan-March 2025)
Ecosystem functions include the flow of goods or services which occur naturally by ecological interactions between biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem is often referred as ecosystem goods and services. These goods and services not only provide tangible and intangible benefits to human community but also are critical to the functioning of ecosystem. Thus, ecosystem goods and services are the process through which natural ecosystems and the species that make up sustain and fulfil the human needs (Newcome et al. 2005). Ecosystems are thus natural capital assets supporting and supplying services highly valuable to human livelihoods and providing various goods and services (MEA 2003; Daily and Matson 2008; Gunderson et al. 2016).
Why do ecosystem services matter?
1-Contribution to human well-being Ecosystem services directly contribute to human well-being by providing food and shelter, but also supporting our health, joy, spiritual inspiration, and cultural identity.
2-Input to regional economies in many places, Nature is the single most important input to regional economies, providing materials, clean water and good environmental conditions for industry, agriculture and the services sector.
3-Efficient natural solutions Nature secures much of our fresh water, protects against erosion and droughts, and provides many other benefits without charging for them. If carefully planned and managed, ecosystem-based solutions can work more effectively and efficiently than solutions based on ‘built infrastructure’.
4-Future Challenges Maintaining well-functioning natural ecosystems is an excellent strategy to deal with future pressures and threats, for example, those linked to climate change.
There are multiple benefits provided by ecosystems to humans and the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. The concept of ecosystem services relates to both our dependence on nature and the impact of our activities on it. From an economic perspective, ESs has been described as the “contributions of the natural world which generate goods which people value”.
Impact of Direct and Indirect Drivers on Nature
· The direct drivers (land-/sea-use change; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change; pollution; and invasive alien species) result from an array of underlying societal causes. These societal causes are termed as Indirect Drivers, they can be demographic, sociocultural, economic, technological, or relating to institutions, governance, conflicts and epidemics.
· The color bands in the figure represent the relative global impact of direct drivers on terrestrial, freshwater and marine nature, as estimated from a global systematic review of studies published since 2005.
· Land-and sea-use change and direct exploitation account for more than 50 per cent of the global impact on land, in fresh water and in the sea, but each driver is dominant in certain contexts.
· The circles illustrate the magnitude of the negative human impacts on a diverse selection of aspects of nature over a range of different time scales based on a global synthesis of indicator
Figure Source: IPBES (2019): The global assessment report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Economic Importance of Ecosystem: Examples
· The importance of coral reef ecosystem services Although just covering 1.2% of the world’s continent shelves, coral reefs are home to an estimated 1-3million species, including more than a quarter of all marine fish species (Allsoppetal, 2009).Some30million people in coastal and island communities are totally reliant on reef-based resources as their primary means of food production, income and livelihood (Gomezetal.1994, Wilkinson2004).
· Tree planting enhances urban life quality in Canberra, Australia Local authorities in Canberra have planted 400,000 trees to regulate microclimate, reduce pollution, and there by improve urban air quality, reduce energy costs for air conditioning as well as store and sequester carbon. These benefits are expected to amount to some US$ 20-67million over the period2008-2012, in terms of the value generated or savings realized for the city (Brack, 2002).
· On serving forests avoids greenhouse gas emissions worth US$3.7trillion Halving deforestation rates by 2030 would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 1.5 to 2.7 GT CO2 per year, thereby avoiding damages from climate change estimated at more than US$3.7trillionin NPV terms. This figure does not include the many co-benefits of forest ecosystems (Eliasch, 2008).
Ecosystem Valuation
· Economic valuation of ecosystem services refers to the assignment of monetary value to ecosystem assets, good and services, where the monetary value has a particular and precise meaning.
· Economic valuation of natural resources aid in wise-use and sustainable management by quantifying and comparing the various benefits of resources.
· Economic valuation method captures the output of ecological production function to arrive at economic values.
· Ecosystem service valuation utilizes various methods and approaches to estimate the value of ecosystem services.
Steps of Valuation
· Recognizing Value: - Recognizing value in ecosystems, landscapes, species and other aspects of biodiversity is a feature of all human societies and communities and is sometimes sufficient to ensure conservation and sustainable use. This may be the case especially where the spiritual or cultural values of nature are strong. For example, protected areas such as national parks have historically been established in response to a sense of collective heritage, a perception of shared cultural or social value being placed on treasured landscapes, charismatic species or natural wonders.
· Demonstrating Value: Demonstrating value in economic terms is often useful for policymakers, in reaching decisions that consider the full costs and benefits of a proposed use of an ecosystem, rather than just those costs or values that enter markets in the form of private goods. For Example, include calculating the costs and benefits of conserving the ecosystem services provided by wetlands in treating human wastes and controlling floods, compared to the cost of providing the same services by building water treatment facilities or concrete flood defences. A variety of economic valuation methods have been developed, refined, and applied to biodiversity and ecosystem services in a range of different contexts. It needs to be stressed that valuation is best applied for assessing the consequences of changes resulting from alternative management options, rather than for attempting to estimate the total value of ecosystems. It can also highlight the costs of achieving environmental targets and help identify more efficient means of delivering ecosystem services.
· Capturing Value: - Capturing value, the final tier of the economic valuation, involves the introduction of mechanisms that incorporate the values of ecosystems into decision making, through incentives and price signals. This can include payments for ecosystem services, reforming environmentally harmful subsidies, introducing tax breaks for conservation, or creating new markets for sustainably produced goods and ecosystem services. Valuation can act as a powerful form of feedback, a tool for self-reflection, which helps us rethink our relation to the natural environment and alerts us to the consequences of our choices and behaviour on distant places and people.
Importance of Valuation: -
· Valuation is not intended to displace the broader factors already present in environmental decision-making frameworks, and most commentators agree that its application to ecosystem service should be regarded as a complementary, rather than sole, component indecision making. However, valuation can be used to-
· Understand the contribution that an ecosystem makes to an area and the dependencies between the different ecosystem services arising from it.
· Determine whether a policy intervention is justified and any losses or gains in ecosystem service benefits.
· The costs and benefits for different stake holders from how an ecosystem is managed.
· Justify the need for financial resources to sustain, restore or enhance ecosystem services.
References (excluding in text citation)
Costanza, R., d’Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farberk, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., Limburg, K., Naeem, S., O’Neill, R. V., Paruelo, J., Raskin, R. G., Suttonkk, P & van den Belt, M. (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature. 387: 253-260.
MA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis. Island Press, Washington D.C.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://teriin.org/e-learning/pdf/Land_resource_PPT.pdf.
***