The millennium ecosystem assessment: what is it all about?

2000

2009

Copyright  2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 300, NW, Washington, DC 20009. ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. Ecosystems and human well-being : current state and trends : findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group / edited by Rashid Hassan, Robert Scholes, Neville Ash. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was carried out between 2001 and 2005 to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and to establish the scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their contributions to human well-being. The MA responds to government requests for information received through four international conventions—the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on Migratory Species—and is designed to also meet needs of other stakeholders, including the business community, the health sector, nongovernmental organizations, and indigenous peoples. The sub-global assessments also aimed to meet the needs of users in the regions where they were undertaken. The assessment focuses on the linkages between ecosystems and human well-being and, in particular, on ‘‘ecosystem services.’’ An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit. The MA deals with the full range of ecosystems—from those relatively undisturbed, such as natural forests, to landscapes with mixed patterns of human use and to ecosystems intensively managed and modified by humans, such as agricultural land and urban areas. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food, water, timber, and fiber; regulating services that affect climate, floods, disease, wastes, and water quality; cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis, and nutrient cycling. The human species, while buffered against environmental changes by culture and technology, is fundamentally dependent on the flow of ecosystem services.

Choice Reviews Online, 2004

2012

Copyright  2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 300, NW, Washington, DC 20009. ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. Ecosystems and human well-being : current state and trends : findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group / edited by Rashid Hassan, Robert Scholes, Neville Ash. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was carried out between 2001 and 2005 to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and to establish the scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their contributions to human well-being. The MA responds to government requests for information received through four international conventions—the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Convention on Migratory Species—and is designed to also meet needs of other stakeholders, including the business community, the health sector, nongovernmental organizations, and indigenous peoples. The sub-global assessments also aimed to meet the needs of users in the regions where they were undertaken. The assessment focuses on the linkages between ecosystems and human well-being and, in particular, on ‘‘ecosystem services.’’ An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit. The MA deals with the full range of ecosystems—from those relatively undisturbed, such as natural forests, to landscapes with mixed patterns of human use and to ecosystems intensively managed and modified by humans, such as agricultural land and urban areas. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food, water, timber, and fiber; regulating services that affect climate, floods, disease, wastes, and water quality; cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis, and nutrient cycling. The human species, while buffered against environmental changes by culture and technology, is fundamentally dependent on the flow of ecosystem services.

Ecosystems and Human Well-being, 2005

Ecosystem services are indispensable to the well-being of all people in all places. Ecosystem services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, including food, natural fibers, a steady supply of clean water, regulation of pests and diseases, medicinal substances, recreation, and protection from natural hazards such as floods. Human well-being consists of security, the basic materials for a viable livelihood (food, shelter, clothing, energy, etc., or the income necessary to purchase them), freedom and choice, good health, and good social-cultural relations. Links exist in both directions between the flow of ecosystem services and the level of human well-being. These linkages can be illustrated at all scales, from local to global; in all places in the world, from the least to the most developed; and for all peoples, from the poorest to the wealthiest and the rural to the urban and industrialized. There are important issues of equity involved: Who experiences the gains and losses in ecosystem services under conditions of ecosystem change? How are the services and well-being distributed across space and/or time? These issues can only be satisfactorily resolved by adopting a comprehensive approach to development that simultaneously considers ecological, social, and economic outcomes, balancing the interests of all affected groups, as well as the benefits in the present against the options that will be available to future generations.

Science, 2006

2000

Ecosystem services are necessary, yet not sufficient for human well-being (however defined). Insufficient access to the ecosystem provisioning service of food is a particularly important factor in the loss of human well-being, but all ecosystem services contribute in some way to well-being. Although perhaps long obvious to ecologists, the links between ecosystems and aspects of human well-being, including health, have

2005

Copyright  2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 300, NW, Washington, DC 20009. ISLAND PRESS is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data. Ecosystems and human well-being : policy responses : findings of the Responses Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment / edited by Kanchan Chopra . . . [et al.]. p. cm.—(The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment series ; v. 3) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-55963-269-0 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 1-55963-270-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Human ecology. 2. Ecosystem management. 3. Ecological assessment (Biology) 4. Environmental policy. 5. Environmental management. I. Chopra, Kanchan Ratna. II. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Program). Responses Working Group. III. Series. GF50.E267 2005 333.9516—dc22 2005017304 British Cataloguing-in-Publication data available. Printed on recycled, acid-free paper Book design by Maggie Powell Typesetting by Coghill Composition, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America

Proceedings of the …, 2009

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) introduced a new framework for analyzing social-ecological systems that has had wide influence in the policy and scientific communities. Studies after the MA are taking up new challenges in the basic science needed to assess, project, and manage flows of ecosystem services and effects on human well-being. Yet, our ability to draw general conclusions remains limited by focus on discipline-bound sectors of the full social-ecological system. At the same time, some polices and practices intended to improve ecosystem services and human well-being are based on untested assumptions and sparse information. The people who are affected and those who provide resources are increasingly asking for evidence that interventions improve ecosystem services and human well-being. New research is needed that considers the full ensemble of processes and feedbacks, for a range of biophysical and social systems, to better understand and manage the dynamics of the relationship between humans and the ecosystems on which they rely. Such research will expand the capacity to address fundamental questions about complex socialecological systems while evaluating assumptions of policies and practices intended to advance human well-being through improved ecosystem services.