Latest ecosystem services Stories
Policy forum article in today's Science pleads for biodiversity scientists, pleads for biodiversityIn a Policy Forum article in today's issue of Science, a group of leading biodiversity scientists, including NJIT's Daniel Bunker, have argued that targets to be met by 2020 under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) must consider the real value of biodiversity if they are to be attained."Ecosystem Services for 2020" outlines how biodiversity can be valued by considering the...
Scientists conduct research on how Earth's water system is linked to climate change, land use, ecosystemsAmong the most urgent challenges facing the world today is ensuring the adequate supply and quality of water, scientists say, especially in light of burgeoning human needs and climate variability and change.Despite water's importance to life on Earth, major gaps exist in our understanding of water availability, quality and dynamics, and the impacts of a changing climate and human activity...
Human well-being is improving even as ecosystem services decline: Why?Global degradation of ecosystems is widely believed to threaten human welfare, yet accepted measures of well-being show that it is on average improving globally, both in poor countries and rich ones. A team of authors writing in the September issue of BioScience dissects explanations for this "environmentalist's paradox." Noting that understanding the paradox is "critical to guiding future management of...
Companies with 'net positive impact' on biological diversity are winners in resource-constrained worldBusiness leaders in biodiversity-rich developing economies are concerned about losses of 'natural capital', a new report launched today highlights.Over 50 per cent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) surveyed in Latin America and 45 per cent in Africa see declines in biodiversity as a challenge to business growth. In contrast, less than 20 per cent of their counterparts in western Europe share...
Analysis offers first worldwide estimate of investments in combating water pollution; calls for governments to embrace markets to fight encroaching 'dead zones'An innovative market in water quality is rapidly emerging worldwide, as cash-strapped governments in countries as diverse as China, the United States, Brazil and Australia invest billions of public and private dollars in schemes that reward people who protect water resources, according to a new report that is the first to quantify...
Following an intense study of agricultural ecosystems near Montreal, a new tool that enables the simultaneous analysis and management of a wide range of ecological services has been developed by Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne of McGill University's Department of Geography, Elena Bennett of the McGill School of Environment, and Garry Peterson of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University. Environmental management typically focuses on nature's resources like food, wildlife and timber, but...
Results from Long-Term Ecological Research show importance of resources and processes supplied by ecosystemsHumans are sustained by a multitude of processes and resources in the environment around us. These benefits are called "ecosystem services," and include products like clean drinking water and the provision of foods such as crops and spices.On Thursday, March 4, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host a symposium titled, "Ecosystem Services in a Changing World:...
A new UN report claims that by investing billions into saving biodiversity and ecosystems, groups could stand to earn trillions.The report showed that world leaders must come together to ensure the safety of threatened species and ecosystems, or they will have to pay the price later."Recognizing and rewarding the value delivered to society by the natural environment must become a policy priority," said Pavan Sukhdev, lead author of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)...
Economists, assigning values to 'ecosystem services,' report staggering totals and rates of return on investmentExperts concluding the global DIVERSITAS biodiversity conference today in Cape Town described preliminary research revealing jaw-dropping dollar values of the "ecosystem services" of biomes like forests and coral reefs "“ including food, pollution treatment and climate regulation.Undertaken to help societies make better-informed choices, the economic research shows a single...
Growing water needs, mismanagement leading to 'catastrophic decline' in freshwater biodiversityThe world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to "achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of...
