Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
food of the future. This latter reason for conservation is clearly
about the survival of humans and has an economic incentive.
Since conservation can be emotive there are moves to try to create
rational measures by which effort and resources can be allocated. One
method adopts the
ecosystem services
approach. Ecosystem serv-
ices are those that support humans in some way. They may be:
• supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis,
primary production, nutrient cycling and water cycling;
• provisioningservicessuchasfood,ibre,fuel,chemicals,medi-
cines and fresh water;
• regulatingservicessuchasloodregulation,climateregulation,
water purification, disease regulation, pollination and natural
hazard regulation; and
• culturalservicessuchasrecreation,spiritualenrichment,learn-
ing, reflection and aesthetic values.
Evaluating the services that ecosystems provide to society in these
ways can help focus attention on where investment and change
might be required. If water is scarce and therefore valuable, and it is
realised that, if the upstream ecosystem management was altered,
then water would be secured, then this may aid management
decisions. Investment in those changes may be worthwhile despite
the fact that another service (e.g. provision of wood for furniture)
might be reduced. The economics would allow a weighing-up of
whether the furniture or the water was more valuable and payments
might be forthcoming to change the management and perhaps even
compensate the foresters or furniture makers, as this would still be
cheaper than having to obtain water from a different location. Of
course the problem with putting things into economic terms is that
there is still some subjectivity in certain areas. For example it is dif-
ficult to put an economic value on the cultural services of archaeo-
logical preservation or the spiritual significance of a landscape.
Therefore, there needs to be a broader, balanced view taken as to
how to evaluate the service provision by different ecosystems to
enhance their conservation. Nevertheless, raising awareness of the
wider services that ecosystems provide appears to be of benefit and
allows people to appreciate and value the services offered by quite
distant systems and understand why those systems need protecting.
