Ecosystem Services

D1. What are ecosystem goods and services?

People have been relying for their daily needs and well-being on nature. The natural ecosystem provides varieties of goods and services to us, for instance, fresh water, fisheries, timber, water purification etc. The benefits that people directly get from the natural systems are called ecosystem services (ES).

The natural ecosystem provides both goods and services to us. The ecosystem goods are the things that people produced from soil, water and plants; Crops, Fibre, Timber, Livestock, Tourism, etc. are the example of ecosystem goods. And, at the same time people get a varieties of fundamental and life supporting services such as flood control, clean air and water, pollination of crops and other plants, natural hazard regulation, cultural, spiritual and aesthetic services which are called ES ( Kerr, G., 2010).

Classification of ecosystem services

The united nation was carried out an extensive study of current condition and trends of ecosystem services with the help of 1,300 experts from around the world and prepared the The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) Report in 2005. This report classifies ecosystem services into four types. 1) Supporting services: It is a fundamental unit of ecosystem services which support other ecosystem services. The soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling and water cycling are the supporting service in ES. 2) Provisioning services: These include the goods or products obtained from ecosystem such as foods (crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, and wild foods), Fibre (timber, cotton, silk, wood fuel, genetic resources, biochemical, natural ...

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...then the decision. The decision maker should know the consequences of their decision in ES, for example how timber supply, making dam and extensive land use for agriculture affect in ES. The decision maker action may change the ES, they should consider the trade-offs among many option at decision making time and should chose the policies that help to foster and sustain the ES (Ranganathan, J. et al., 2008).

Conclusion

The benefits that we get from the nature are ES and it is indispensable for our overall development and prosperity.

Works Cited

Ranganathan, J. et al. (2008). Ecosystem Services a Guide for Decision Makers. World Resources Institute.

Kerr, G. (2010). Ecosystem Services Approach to Inform Environmental Management, Draft. Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC.