Ecosystem services and Biodiversity - Science for Environment Policy

00:05:36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6luBEJfi3s

Résumé

TLDRThe video illustrates the essential services provided by ecosystems, highlighting how these services are categorized into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. Despite their importance, these services face threats worldwide due to human pressures. With issues like the depletion of fish stocks, air pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion, 60% of ecosystems show worrying declines. Emphasizing biodiversity's relevance, the video explains that ecosystem service approaches can aid in protecting this biodiversity by including all benefits ecosystems offer, not just those with direct market values. Examples like the planting of 15,000 hectares of new Woodland in the UK showcase how undervalued ecosystem services can be prioritized if their full value is recognized. The video also critiques the sole reliance on monetary valuation as it can miss capturing the intrinsic value of nature, such as emotional experiences with wildlife. Although monetary valuation can insert non-economic values into decision-making, it emphasizes that informed judgment is required. Overall, ecosystem services should work collaboratively with other tools to conserve biodiversity and secure human benefits beyond monetary terms.

A retenir

  • 🌿 Ecosystems provide diverse and essential services to humanity.
  • ⛅ Human activities are threatening these vital ecosystems worldwide.
  • 🌍 Biodiversity is crucial for maintaining healthy ecosystems.
  • 💡 Monetary valuation of ecosystem services has limitations.
  • 🌲 Real-world policies can benefit from full ecosystem service assessments.
  • 🔍 The intrinsic value of nature cannot be fully captured monetarily.
  • 🦠 Biodiversity loss can lead to increased vulnerability to diseases.
  • 📚 Different methods help evaluate ecosystem services' non-market values.
  • 🤝 Ecosystem services need collaboration with other conservation tools.
  • 🛡️ Protecting biodiversity ensures prolonged human benefits beyond economics.

Chronologie

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:36

    Ecosystems offer a variety of essential services ranging from provisioning, regulating, supporting, to cultural. These services are crucial, yet human activities jeopardize these systems, reflected in alarming declines of global ecosystems. A key question posed is whether an ecosystem service approach can safeguard biodiversity. Discussing a case study, UK’s policy for new Woodland illustrates how valuing multiple benefits of ecosystems can influence policy and land use decisions. However, monetary value alone is insufficient as it does not cover the entirety of ecological benefits or biodiversity preservation. Examples include crops and species potentially offering overlooked medicinal benefits.

Carte mentale

Mind Map

Questions fréquemment posées

  • What are ecosystem services?

    Ecosystem services are benefits provided by ecosystems, categorized into provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.

  • How do ecosystems benefit humans?

    Ecosystems provide clean water, flood protection, cultural heritage, and a sense of place, among other benefits.

  • What threats are ecosystems currently facing?

    Ecosystems face threats such as overexploited fish stocks, air pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion.

  • Why is biodiversity important for ecosystems?

    Biodiversity is fundamental for healthy ecosystems and is crucial for maintaining ecosystem services.

  • Can ecosystem service approaches help in biodiversity protection?

    Yes, ecosystem service approaches can help protect biodiversity by recognizing the full value of ecosystem services.

  • How can the monetary value of ecosystem services be assessed?

    Monetary valuation can be assessed through methods like revealed and stated preferences, which consider costs people are willing to spend or accept.

  • What is a limitation of using monetary valuation for ecosystem services?

    Monetary value cannot capture all the human values or non-marketed services, hence informed judgment is necessary.

  • Why might focusing only on profitable services be harmful to biodiversity?

    Focusing solely on profitable services can neglect other beneficial services, potentially harming biodiversity.

  • What is an example of unrecognized ecosystem value mentioned in the video?

    The common snow drop, which contains an alkaloid used for Alzheimer's treatment, illustrates unrecognized ecosystem value.

  • How can ecosystem services be used in decision-making?

    Ecosystem services can be used to prioritize resources, raise awareness of diverse benefits, and protect biodiversity with informed decisions.

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    from food clean water and flood
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    protection to cultural heritage in a
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    sense of place in the world ecosystems
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    provide essential benefits or services
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    to us
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    all these benefits are as diverse as
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    they are numerous and they're
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    categorized into the type of service
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    they
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    provide from provisioning services like
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    those from Plants to regulating services
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    like those provided by wetlands and
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    pollination of
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    crops then there are supporting services
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    which underpin all other services and
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    finally there are cultural services such
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    as valuable benefits of spending time in
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    nature for much of recent human history
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    these ecosystem Services have been
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    overlooked while increasing human
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    pressures are threatening these vital
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    systems across the world fish stocks are
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    overexploited
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    air pollution is an increasing problem
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    vast areas of tropical forests are
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    destroyed tons of soil are eroded each
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    year globally the ecosystems we rely on
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    are under threat with 60% experiencing
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    worrying
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    declines so how can we protect these
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    services for future Generations Decades
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    of research and practice show that rich
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    biodiversity is fundamental for healthy
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    ecosystems
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    so the question is can the ecosystem
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    service approach help protect
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    biodiversity let's look at a real world
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    example imagine a national policy to
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    plant 15,000 hectares of new Woodland in
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    the
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    UK if we only consider the market value
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    of Timber the cost of planting this
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    Forest would appear to outweigh the
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    benefit so the project might not go
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    ahead but this may be a good thing as
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    planting would be on the cheapest upward
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    areas which produce a lot of currently
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    unvalued services such as water storage
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    and
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    purification if however we included in
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    our calculations all those other
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    benefits that trees provide for us we
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    might sight trees in lowlands where
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    these benefits could be optimized which
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    will increase overall costs by
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    displacing profitable Farmland but which
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    can return far greater
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    benefits in this situation the you
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    usefulness of this approach is clear
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    however monetary value is only one tool
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    in the ecosystem Services
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    toolbox and making one service more
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    productive increasing its monetary value
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    doesn't necessarily mean that other
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    services will flourish or that
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    biodiversity will be protected if we
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    think of a large area of land growing
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    strawberries in monetary terms the
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    service and value is high but overall
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    biodiversity is
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    low what's more genetically identical
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    crops are less able to adapt and so are
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    more vulnerable to diseases pests and a
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    changing
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    climate and sometimes we don't realize
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    the True Value a certain species may
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    have if we think of the common snow drop
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    found throughout Europe but now on the
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    near-threatened iucn Red List recently
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    it has been found to contain an alkaloid
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    approved for treatment of Alzheimer's
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    disease and its effects against HIV are
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    also being
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    studied but what about those benefits
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    which do not have a monetary market
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    value It seems impossible to quantify
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    the intrinsic values of nature such as a
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    feeling of seeing and hearing wild
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    birds however two approaches used to
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    account for Less readily monetized
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    values include revealed preference if we
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    look at the typical purchases of a bird
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    watcher the costs of the associated
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    things they spend money on can provide a
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    monetary approximation of the way the
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    service is
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    valued then there is stated preference
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    for example we might use willingness to
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    pay methods surveying people about how
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    much they will be willing to pay to
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    create a particular ecosystem or how
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    much compensation they would be willing
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    to accept for its
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    loss however this assumes that all these
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    values are pre-formed in people's minds
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    and that societally shared values are a
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    simple aggregation of personal
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    preferences we know that neither of
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    these assumptions is true so other
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    techniques are needed to capture more
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    deeply held
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    values monetary valuation is not an open
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    door to commodify and degrade nature it
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    is not a perfect picture but it is one
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    way to insert non-economic values into
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    the decision-making
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    system but there remains an essential
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    difference between price and value crude
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    money equivalents cannot capture the
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    range of human value all the
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    significance of non-marketed services so
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    informed judgment is always required to
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    make robust and Equitable
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    decisions ecosystem Services can work
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    alongside other tools to prioritize
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    resources raise awareness of the
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    substantial benefits provided by
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    ecosystems and create a Common Language
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    to protect biodiversity and the many
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    human benefits that stem from it
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    ensuring future wealth and abundance
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    Beyond mere monetary terms
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    [Music]
Tags
  • ecosystem services
  • biodiversity
  • sustainability
  • environment
  • monetary valuation
  • nature
  • human benefits
  • decision-making
  • cultural services
  • ecosystem health