BIODIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURE
Ecosystem Services
for Human Well-Being
Healthy ecosystems provide services that are the foundation for human well-being including health. Ecosystem services
are the bene ts people obtain from ecosystems: provisioning services (also known as goods) such as food and water;
regulating services such as ood, pest, and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual and recreational bene ts;
and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.
Biodiversity underpins ecosystem functioning. Figure 1 taken from Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 demonstrates the link
between ecosystem services and human well-being and drivers of change.1 e di erent levels (genes, species, ecosystems)
and aspects of biodiversity directly and indirectly contribute to ecosystem goods and services, which not only deliver the
basic materials needed for survival but also underlie other aspects of a good life: health, security, good social relations,
and freedom of choice. Humans, through social and economic activities and environmental management, create indirect
and direct drivers of change that can a ect, positively and negatively, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
e Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, completed in 2005 by more than 1360 scientists working in 95 countries, exam-
ined the state of 24 services. e assessment concluded that 15 of the 24 services are in decline, including the provision
of fresh water, marine sheries production, the number and quality of places of spiritual and religious value, the ability
of the atmosphere to cleanse itself of pollution, and the capacity of agro-ecosystems to provide pest control.2
Figure 1: Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and drivers of change
HUMAN WELL-BEING
Basic Material for good life
Health
Security
Good social relations
Freedom of choice and action
GOODS (provisioning services)
Food, ber and fuel
Genetic resources
Biochemicals
Fresh water
CULTURAL SERVICES
Spiritual and relig