This site was developed as
an interactive technological component of an upper division course at
CSUMB (ESSP 301--Ecosystem Services). We present educational materials
that will stimulate discussion and research on the topic of valuation of
natural ecosystems and the services they provide to regional and global
economies. In addition, we offer examples that infuse technology into
teaching, including on-line testing applications, on-line office hours
and discussion groups, and downloadable computer lab activities. Please
note that this site is still in the beta testing stage and more material
will be added soon. We appreciate all feedback on this site and its content,
please contact us!
Read on for more information on ecosystem services
and the role they play in regional and global economies! Or take a look at the syllabus for the course.
What Are Ecosystem Services?
Human societies derive many essential goods from natural ecosystems,
including seafood, game animals, fodder, fuelwood, timber, and
pharmaceutical products. These goods represent important and familiar
parts of the economy. What has been less appreciated until recently
is that natural ecosystems also perform fundamental life-support
services without which human civilizations would cease to thrive.
These include the purification of air and water, detoxification
and decomposition of wastes, regulation of climate, regeneration
of soil fertility, and production and maintenance of biodiversity,
from which key ingredients of our agricultural, pharmaceutical,
and industrial enterprises are derived.
This array of services
is generated by a complex interplay of natural cycles powered
by solar energy and operating across a wide range of space and
time scales. The process of waste disposal, for example, involves
the life cycles of bacteria as well as the planet-wide cycles
of major chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen. Such processes
are worth many trillions of dollars annually.
Yet because most
of these benefits are not traded in economic markets, they carry
no price tags that could alert society to changes in their supply
or deterioration of underlying ecological systems that generate
them. Because threats to these systems are increasing, there is
a critical need for identification and monitoring of ecosystem
services both locally and globally, and for the incorporation
of their value into decision-making processes.
Historically, the nature and value of Earth's life support systems
have largely been ignored until their disruption or loss highlighted
their importance. For example, deforestation has belatedly revealed
the critical role forests serve in regulating the water cycle
-- in particular, in mitigating floods, droughts, the erosive
forces of wind and rain, and silting of dams and irrigation canals.
Today, escalating impacts of human activities on forests, wetlands,
and other natural ecosystems imperil the delivery of such services.
The primary threats are land use changes that cause losses in
biodiversity as well as disruption of carbon, nitrogen, and other
biogeochemical cycles; human-caused invasions of exotic species;
releases of toxic substances; possible rapid climate change; and
depletion of stratospheric ozone.
Based on available scientific evidence, we are certain that:
- Ecosystem services are essential to civilization.
- Ecosystem services operate on such a grand scale and in such
intricate and little-explored ways that most could not be replaced
by technology.
- Human activities are already impairing the flow of ecosystem
services on a large scale.
- If current trends continue, humanity will dramatically alter
virtually all of Earth's remaining natural ecosystems within a
few decades.
In addition, based on current scientific evidence, we are confident
that:
- Many of the human activities that modify or destroy natural
ecosystems may cause deterioration of ecological services whose
value, in the long term, dwarfs the short-term economic benefits
society gains from those activities.
- Considered globally, very large numbers of species and populations
are required to sustain ecosystem services.
- The functioning of many ecosystems could be restored if appropriate
actions were taken in time.
We believe that land use and development policies should strive
to achieve a balance between sustaining vital ecosystem services
and pursuing the worthy short-term goals of economic development.