Natural Environment Blog

The term ecosystem service refers to the many services that are supplied to us by natural ecosystems. 

More specifically, these services are ones that we value, and support our existence the way we know it.

Put another way:

Ecosystem services are the transformation of a set of natural assets (soil, plants and animals, air and water) into things that we value.

Another, well thought out, definition can be seen below.

Examples of Ecosystem Services

Here are some examples of ecosystem services (based on widely used definitions): 

• Purification of air and water
• Mitigation of droughts and floods
• Maintenance of soil fertility
• Maintenance of soil health
• Maintenance of healthy waterways
• Waste absorption and breakdown
• Pollination of crops and natural vegetation
• Dispersal of seeds
• Cycling and movement of nutrients
• Control of the vast majority of potential agricultural pests
• Maintenance of biodiversity
• Protection of coastal shores from erosion by waves
• Provision of shade and shelter
• Partial stabilization of climate
• Moderation of weather extremes and their impacts
• Provision of aesthetic beauty and intellectual stimulation that lift the human spirit

The Importance of Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are important services that we need if we are to continue life on Earth as we know it.

Unfortunately, to date, ecosystem services haven’t been properly recognized in economic markets, government policies and land management practices. Because of this, ecosystem services are highly vulnerable to degradation. 

If all the world’s ecosystems were to disappear, how would we recreate these services?

A Dollar Value for Ecosystem Services

One of the reasons ecosystems services have been undervalued is because of the difficulty in coming up with a dollar figure that accurately reflects the benefit of the services. Without being worth something in monetary terms, its highly unlikely that governments and other organizations are going to want to invest in ecosystem services.

There have been a number of attempts at valuating ecosystem services. Here are two examples:  

• Science magazine - a highly respected journal - estimated the value of replicating just the most readily quantifiable ecosystem services at $30-$40 trillion per year. This is about the equivalent of the total Gross Planetary Product.
• Canopy Capital - a company aiming to drive capital into rainforests - have said that it would take the equivalent of 50,000 times the daily energy output of the world’s largest hydropower station to evaporate the 20 billion tonnes of water coming off the Amazon each day. 

Measuring Ecosystem Services

One of the reasons it’s been so difficult in coming up with a dollar figure is because, there hasn’t been an effective way of measuring ecosystem services.

What exactly do you measure? And how do you measure it? If you were to walk down to the forest today, could you point at all the services and say how much of each service is there?

How do you judge nature’s value?

This issue is what Resources For the Future (RFF) has been working on for some years now. They sought to establish a definition that enabled more accountability of ecosystem services. Such a definition would help conservationists and governments define and manage ecosystem services. 

In 2006, following a workshop involving various environmental groups, RFF released a discussion paper which put forward the following definition for ecosystem services: 

Ecosystem services are components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human well-being

Using this definition, an ecosystem service would be restricted to the end product - rather than a process or function of the ecosystem. This is where it differs from other definitions, which tend to include processes and functions as a system.

For example, using the definition put forward by the RFF, water purification would not be an ecosystem service. Clean water would be.

As RFF put it, this definition aims at providing standardized environmental accounting units - it would provide a standardized way of counting nature’s benefits.

International travel travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, have partnered with Australian based conservation organization, Rainforest Rescue, to help ensure that Australia’s ancient Daintree rainforest is protected forever.

Abercrombie & Kent (A&K), who specialize in luxury journeys across seven continents, is supporting Rainforest Rescue’s “Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever” project.

About the Project

This Daintree Buyback and Protect Forever project identifies, and purchases precious rainforest at risk of development and establishes nature refuge status which protects it forever under Queensland law. 

Since it started in 2000, the project has purchased and protected 10 properties in the Daintree, thanks to individuals’ donations and corporate support. These are properties that could otherwise have been purchased by a developer wanting to build.

About the Daintree

The Daintree rainforest is located in Tropical Far North Queensland Australia, just north of Cairns. The Daintree is among the most significant regional ecosystems in the world.

The Daintree contains the largest range of plants and animals anywhere on Earth. Unfortunately, it also contains the highest number of threatened species anywhere on Earth.

At more than 135 million years old, the Daintree rainforest is also among the oldest rainforests in the world.

Although the Daintree rainforest is a World Heritage Listed area, many parts are still not protected and are under theat from development. 

The Partnership

As part of the partnership, A&K will be encouraging its clients to visit the Daintree rainforest, to learn about the region, as well as to learn about this project. 

A&K, who are also involved with Friends of Conservation, see travel as a way of educating individuals in the diversity of culture and the untamed beauty of the natural world. 

“A&K has always believed passionately in adventures that both respect the natural environment and benefit indigenous peoples.  Our long held philosophy is governed in equal parts by this unswerving commitment to conservation whilst creating lasting travel experiences. It is this thinking that has lead to the establishment of A&K Philanthropy and the announcement of this initiative with Rainforest Rescue. We aim to make a difference whilst giving A&K travellers the most inspiring lifetime experiences.” says Jorie Butler Kent, Vice Chairman of Abercrombie & Kent Group, who is also founder of A&K Philanthropy. 

Rainforest Rescue Corporate Partnerships Manager, Lana Nancarrow said ”It’s great to have organisations like Abercrombie & Kent supporting us, as with many of our other corporate partners, they’re business philosophy is founded on a strong commitment to conserving our natural environment”.

Rainforest Resue has been in business for over 10 years now, and have been busy establishing a number of projects dedicated to conservation.  They are completely supported by donations from individuals, philanthropists, business sponsorship and foundation grants. They do not receive government funding.

Wildlife Trust, an international conservation organization, has announced that the IUCN has accepted its motion to create the first ever criteria for a Red List of threatened ecosystems. 

The motion was put forward at the recent World Conservation Congress in Barcelona by the Wildlife Trust Alliance.

What this means is that, standardized criteria for categorizing terrestrial ecosystems would be established. It would allow ecosystems to be assessed in the same way threatened species are assessed for the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.

“Creating a Red List for endangered ecosystems goes hand-in-hand with the need to protect at-risk species that live in such areas as the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, South Africa’s grasslands, and Indonesian lowland tropical forest,” said Dr. Mary C. Pearl, President of Wildlife Trust.

And Dr. Andrew Taber, Executive Vice President of Programs for Wildlife Trust, says ”Helping society better understand levels of risks to the ecosystems we depend on opens the door to creating sustainable solutions we can all adopt”.

Source: Wildlife Trust