Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.1 Ecosystem service categories and their linkages to human well-being as described in the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [
38
]
and features generating ecosystem services (ES) are so tightly interconnected that
any classification is inherently somewhat arbitrary. The most widely used classifi-
cation was developed through the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and
identifies four classes of ES based on their types of benefits to society:
1.
Provisioning services
including the production of goods such as food, water,
timber, and fiber
2.
Regulating services
that stabilize climate, moderate risk of flooding and disease,
and protect or enhance water quality
3.
Cultural services
that provide recreational, aesthetic, educational, community,
and spiritual opportunities
4.
Supporting services
that underlie provision of the other three classes of benefits,
including soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, and the preservation
of options (
Fig. 6.1
;[
38
]).
The classification of ES is still a topic of debate and several other classification
approaches have been suggested [
7
,
19
,
22
,
67
].
System- and scale-neutral, the ecosystem services framework applies equally to
terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems and their processes, anywhere on the
spectrum from relatively pristine to heavily managed conditions. Indeed, all
ecosystems provide, to differing degrees, a set of ES. Human conversion of
