ABSTRACT

There has been a growing public interest in the role and value of natural ecosystems and
how they contribute to our quality of life and to human well-being. Ecosystems services and their
continued provision underpin human existence, health and prosperity.

Governments, communities and natural resource managers are taking a broader

ecosystem approach to decision making for natural resource management issues that can achieve
multiple benefits for landowners and society. Biodiversity is central to the production of
ecosystem services; it is the direct source of services, such as food and fiber, and underpins
others, such as clean water and air, through the role of organisms in energy and material cycles.

This paper provides an overview of the concept of ecosystem services and how they are
valued. There are both use values and non-use values that comprise the total economic value,
including both the intrinsic values of ecosystems and biodiversity and the market values of goods
and services.

This paper explains the role of ecosystem goods and services in eradication of poverty &
promotion of human well-being.

Keywords: Ecosystem services; Biodiversity.

1|Page
 INTRODUCTION

Human societies have long been aware of their reliance on the goods and
services provided by nature, especially food, fuel and fiber. In recent times, the value of less
tangible services, such as climate control, water filtration, soil fertility, as well as recreational
and cultural services has become more apparent. As understanding deepens about human
dependence on natural processes across varying temporal and spatial scales, so too does the need
to measure and value these ‘ecosystem services’ within economic and management frameworks.

Defining Ecosystem Services: Ecosystem services are the benefits provided to humans
through the transformations of resources (or environmental assets, including land, water,
vegetation and atmosphere) into a flow of essential goods and services e.g. clean air, water,
and food.

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 beasties factorial 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.

Despite their obvious importance, ecosystem services are in decline in many places around
the world (though some services are increasing in some areas, for example food production
in managed ecosystems). In some cases, the loss may be too gradual to be noticed, or may be
compensated by increases in other services or in some aspects of human well-being. In other
cases, the loss of services is borne by people other than those causing the decline. A special case
of the latter occurs when future generations bear the loss, while current generations reap the
benefits.

Where the link between ecosystem services and human well-being is clear and immediate,
affected people are more likely to develop regulatory institutions to ensure the continued
supply of services. In some situations, though, the flow of services may be appropriated by more
powerful groups. Also, if the link is obscured, ecosystem services may be undervalued and a
severe loss of service can then result. Common reasons for the link not being apparent to all

2|Page
parties include: slow feedbacks (effects are felt long after the causes have taken place);
displacement in space (effects are felt far from the cause); or displacement in social class (effects
are principally felt by people without power).

The relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being can take on several
different forms. Often, rising incomes are initially accompanied by declines in some ecosystem
services. Once a sufficient level of wealth is achieved, societal priorities may emphasize the
quality of the environment and the services it delivers. In other cases, there is no evidence for
such a turn-around, and some services may decline continuously with increasing wealth. In yet
other cases, a particular service may improve continuously in tandem with increasing wealth.
Note that we do not equate human well-being with wealth; wealth is simply one important and
frequently measured component of well-being.

In places where there are no other social safety nets, diminished human well-being tends to
increase the immediate dependence on ecosystem services. The resultant additional
pressure can damage the capacity of those local ecosystems to deliver services, and this
capacity can decline to such a degree that the probability of disaster or conflict increases.
The non-linear nature of both human and ecological systems and of the relationship between
them means that there are some ecosystem damage thresholds that, if crossed, may prove to be
irreversible. In this important respect, the future of the society-ecosystem relationship is rarely a
simple linear extrapolation of recent trends or current conditions.

Maintenance and restoration of natural ecosystems and the services they provide is
therefore essential to sustained community wellbeing, economic prosperity and efficiency. To
date, the broad range of biodiversity protection measures, public and private, has been vital in
ensuring that ecosystem services continue to flow, even if this has not been their main intention.

3|Page
KEY CONCEPTS:

ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is a dynamic community comprising populations of plants, animals,

microorganisms and the non-living environment interacting together as a functional unit.
Environmental factors, such as soil type, position in the landscape, climate and water
availability, determine the presence and distribution of ecosystems. The main inputs to
ecosystems are sunlight, soil, nutrients and water, while wastes from one part of the system form
fuel for other parts. A key output is biomass (or carbon-based life) regenerating itself.

An ecosystem functions by continually cycling energy and materials through living organisms
that grow, reproduce and then die. This cycling of energy and materials through living organisms
has evolved in response to a mix of disturbances (e.g. fires or floods), stresses (e.g. droughts or
diseases) and ecological interactions (e.g. competition or predation) over millions of years.
Recent changes in the frequency and intensity of these disturbances and stresses raises important
issues about the ability of species and ecosystems to survive and adapt.

When ecosystems are modified to meet society’s needs, they often require additional inputs, such
as fertilizers, pesticides or fuel, which can be both beneficial and harmful. The benefits include
the production of commodities while the run-off of nutrients or pesticides into streams can result
in impaired water quality. Towns and cities can also be viewed as modified, human-dominated
ecosystems that require flows of resource inputs from which energy, water and materials are
extracted and used to support human wellbeing and culture, while producing concentrated waste
streams that are detoxified and absorbed by nature. Efforts to increase the reuse and recycling of
waste materials can be seen as shifting ecosystems into a more cyclic form, closer to the pattern
of natural ecosystems.

BIODIVERSITY- The Engine Room of Ecosystem Services

Biodiversity—comprising animals, plants and microorganisms, their genetic variation and their
organization into populations that assemble into ecosystems—is fundamental to the provision of
ecosystem services. The diversity of organisms is the direct source of many services, such as
food and fiber, and underpins others including clean water and air, through the role of organisms
in energy and material cycles. Changes in and the loss of biodiversity directly influences the
capacity of an ecosystem to produce and supply essential services, and can affect the long term
ability of ecological, economic and social systems to adapt and respond to global pressures.

The precise nature of the relationship between biodiversity, the resilience of ecosystems, and the
production of ecosystem services is complex and the subject of much active research and
ongoing scientific debate.

4|Page
Some key issues that have been identified include:

 The combination of species clearly matters in determining the capacity of an ecosystem

to produce services. Conserving or restoring the structure and therefore the functioning of
ecosystems, rather than just maximizing species numbers, is critical to maintaining
ecosystem services. The varying structural components of ecosystems change at different
speeds and scales under different disturbances or stresses but retaining the underlying
structure is vital.
 The degree of biodiversity richness that is necessary to maintain production of
ecosystem services is less clear. Ecosystems often include species with a degree of
functional redundancy or duplication. However, this does not make those species
dispensable or replaceable, lost species diversity is usually difficult or impossible to
replace. Hence, retaining richness of biodiversity is likely to provide natural insurance
against loss of ecosystem services over time.
 Many ecosystem services are not generated by just one ecosystem. Water, for example,
will flow through and be affected by many ecosystems, each of which needs to be
functionally sound to regulate water quality and volume.

Modified ecosystems can deliver production services, such as food and fiber, although
productivity relies on the continuation of the underlying ecosystem services. The extent to which
ecosystems are modified to produce services, combined with specific management interventions
and the additional use of fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and water, becomes important when
considering the maintenance of all ecosystem services in the long term. An ongoing focus on
some services (e.g. food) at the expense of others (e.g. soil formation or nutrient cycling) may
eventually compromise the functioning, and hence the sustainability, of the ecosystems that
provide these services.

The role of biodiversity in maintaining essential services in human-modified landscapes is often

poorly understood and undervalued.

Small patches of native vegetation can provide important ecosystem services, including as
stepping stones to larger patches, refugia (survival areas during unfavorable conditions) and as
dispersal sources. For example, it has been suggested that such remnants may function as a
refugium and source for grassland specialists, potentially facilitating restoration and conservation
of grasslands at a landscape scale. In temperate Australia, woodland remnants within agricultural
landscapes are considered essential as a seed source for the regeneration of woodland
ecosystems.

Modified ecosystems are generally ecologically simpler and therefore have less resilience to
external pressures (e.g. variations in climate) than complex ecosystems. Hence, they have a
greater risk of failure or a greater need for increasing artificial inputs to keep delivering services
over the long term. The current state of an ecosystem does not necessarily give a clear indication
of what the future state is likely to be, especially in the face of changing or extreme conditions or
events.

5|Page
RESILENCE- The key to sustaining Ecosystem Services
Resilience describes the capacity of a system to maintain its equilibrium in the face of impacts or
pressures that arise from natural or human-made interactions or events. ‘Resilience’ comes from
the Latin word resilire, which means to ‘leap back’ after adversity. A resilient system has the
capacity to absorb disturbance and essentially retain the same function, structure and feedbacks.
Resilience thinking is often applied to social—ecological systems where people and the
environment are linked together.

Resilience is not a static state and does not imply indestructibility. It has a close relationship to
the concept of ‘health’ and is similarly difficult to define. A system can have the capacity to be
resilient to changed conditions, yet may reach a point where it is vulnerable to decline or even
collapse because the rate and scale of change are too great, or because the system reaches a
threshold where its essential processes are changed.

A simple analogy to describe resilience is the bicycle wheel. A wheel can afford to lose some
spokes and still function, although not optimally, but once a threshold number of spokes has
been lost, the wheel will no longer operate effectively and may pose a danger to the cyclist.
Complex systems can have many thousands of ‘wheels’ and the malfunction of one will pass on
pressures to the others; often the wheels with the most vital functions are so small as to be almost
indiscernible. If the bicycle is travelling down a road where the number of potholes ahead is hard
to predict, wheels with fewer spokes will fail sooner.

Ecosystem resilience is thought to be a product of the diversity of ecosystem functional groups,

the diversity of species within those functional groups, and diversity within species and
populations. These different aspects of biodiversity maintain ecological and evolutionary
phenomena, flows and processes across a spectrum of local and global scales. For example, the
presence of high order predator species may make an ecosystem less susceptible to a new
invasive species, while the presence of multiple species that fulfill similar functions increases the
potential for different responses to human landscape modification and other global changes.

Coral reefs, for example, have adapted to and survived variations in temperature over millennia,
but recent climatic change has resulted in ‘bleaching’ events and death of corals around the
globe. Evidence shows that healthy reef ecosystems are better able to provide the conditions
required for the recruitment, survival and growth of new corals after established corals have been
killed by bleaching. Recovery requires a source of new coral recruits and suitable substrate for
the settlement and survival of larval corals. Good water quality, an abundant and diverse
community of herbivorous fishes, and high coral cover are key aspects of ecosystem quality that
facilitate recovery.

It is thought that the ability of a reef to recover from bleaching is linked to overall ecosystem
health, the dynamics between fish populations, nutrient levels, algae and other animals and
plants, and that the loss of capacity to absorb the impacts of a change in temperature can lead a
coral reef to slip into a degraded state from which it may not recover (Hughes 2008). The factors
that reduce resilience in reef ecosystems include overfishing, excessive nutrient run-off from
adjacent land, and climate change.

6|Page
Connectivity is a key concept in thinking about retaining and linking ecosystem services that
maintain resilience. As natural landscapes are transformed for development, remnant areas
become isolated from established patterns of ecological and genetic movement across habitats.
Inevitably, the mix of ecosystem services is reduced and the overall resilience of the landscape is
weakened.

Conserving remnant biodiversity, building connectivity and restoring depleted ecosystems are
wise strategies for strengthening long-term resilience, thus ensuring the ongoing provision of
ecosystem services into the future.

7|Page
IDENTIFYING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. In
2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment identified and categorized ecosystems and their
resulting services, identified the links between these services and human societies, and the direct
and indirect drivers and feedback loops. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework
identified ecosystem services within four categories:

 Provisioning services, such as food and water

 Regulating services, such as flood and disease control
 Supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on
Earth, and
 Cultural services, such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits.

(Source: Wikipedia)

8|Page
This framework is useful for identifying and analyzing the full suite of ecosystem services
available within any given geographical area. It also helps us to understand the complexity of
dependencies, feedbacks and trade-offs between services and human beneficiaries, and can
provide useful information for decision making by:

 Explicitly identifying and classifying the benefits that people derive from ecosystems,
including market and non-market, use and non-use, tangible and intangible benefits
 Describing and communicating these benefits in concepts and language that people can
understand
 Asking, and trying to answer, ecological, economic and social questions to improve
sustainable management of ecosystems and human wellbeing.

Although such analysis may be information intensive, taking an approach which looks for
multiple benefits is likely to minimise the risks of compromising the structure, function and
services of ecosystems and increase the options for retaining resilience. As outlined in, a mix of
ecosystem services is available from any area of natural or modified ecosystem or habitat.
However, the potential for modified ecosystems to provide a full range of ecosystem services
over the long term may be limited if ecological or other thresholds are reached.

(Source: MEA)

9|Page
THE ECONOMY-ECOSYSTEM INTERDEPENDENCE

Economic activity, takes place within and it’s a part of the system which is Earth and
Atmosphere. This system we call is the “Natural Environment”. This system itself has an
environment which is the “Universe”.

A Schematic representation of two-way relationship between the interdependence of the

Economy and the Ecosystem can be explained with the help of the following diagram.

(Source: MCGILVRAY- Natural Resource & Environmental Economics)

10 | P a g e
Explanation
1) The outer heavy black lined box represents the environment, which is a
thermodynamically closed system which exchanges energy but not matter within the
environment.
2) The environment receives inputs of solar radiation, some is absorbed driving
environmental processes and some is reflected back into space represented by the arrows
crossing the heavy black line at the top of the fig. Matter cannot cross the heavy black
line as it cannot cross over from the environment.
3) The balance between energy absorption and reflection determines the way the global
climatic system functions. The energy in and out arrows are shown passing through the
three boxes, which represent three functions that the ecosystem performs in relation to
economic activity.
4) The fourth function represented by the heavy black line is the provision of the life
supporting services which holds the whole functioning system together. The 3 boxes
intersect each other and the heavy black line passes through them indicating that the four
functions are interconnected.

The diagram depicts the economic activity located within the environment and involving
production and consumption. Not all production is consumed; some of the output from
production is added to the human made, reproducible, capital stock. Production also gives rise to
waste inserted into the environment and so does consumption. Consumption also uses directly a
flow of amenity services from the environment to the individuals without the intermediation of
productive activity.

The INTERACTION in details

Resource exists in two forms, Stock or Flow differentiated by the effect of current use on future
use. In case of flow resources there is no link between the current use and the future availability;
for example, solar radiation, etc.

Stock resources are defined by the fact that the level of current use does affect future availability.
Now stock resources has a standard distinction into, “renewable resources” (Flora and fauna) &
“Non-Renewable resources” (Minerals & Fossil fuels). In case of renewable stock it has a
potential to grow by means of natural reproduction. If in any period the use of stock is less than
it’s natural growth rate, stock increases or vice versa. For, Non-Renewable resources there are no
reproduction except on geological timescales. More use now, less use future.

In case of non-renewable resources there is distinction between fossil fuels and other minerals.
Fossil fuel combustion is an irreversible process and cannot be recovered. On the other hand
minerals can be recycled and used again and rate of reduction of stock can be decreased. Fossil
fuel combustion also leads to pollution which has two views:-

a) Pollution as a stock of material resident to natural environment.

b) Pollution as a flow which affects natural environment.

11 | P a g e
From the diagram we can see that the amenity services flow directly from the environment to the
individuals. The biosphere provides human with recreational facilities, such as, swimming,
beaches, scenic beauty, etc. It not always provides for materialistic pleasure but also a sense of
ethnic beauty. The use of these amenity services also affects the natural environment by
impacting it physically like excessive use of beach area can lead to change in its character as
with the erosion of sand dunes following vegetation loss caused by human visitation.

Over and above serving as a resource base, waste sink and amenity base, the biosphere currently
provides the basic life supporting system for humans. Some element of biosphere is even
harmful for human existence like extreme temperature conditions and UV-B which causes skin
cancer and similarly human beings and economic activities are depleting biosphere and life
supporting system like the Ozone Layer by emission of CFCS.

Establishing the interaction through a real-life case study

OUR CLASS TOUR TO DEVDARI, UTTAR PRADESH (26.01.2019)

(RAJDARI) (OUR GROUP)

(DEVDARI) (THE WATERFALL)

12 | P a g e
 (THE WATERFALL) (WATER-MARKS)

(TOP-VIEW) (OBSERVATION DECK)

About Devdari: The Chandra Prabha Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as

Chandraprabha, is situated in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh state in central India. It is
well endowed with beautiful picnic spots, dense forests, and scenic waterfalls like Rajdari and
Devdari that attract tourists every year to its vicinity. Chandra Prabha Wildlife Sanctuary is
situated about 70 kilometers from the historic city of Varanasi.
The area was made a hunting preserve for the rulers of Benares in the second half of the 18th
century. The wildlife sanctuary was established in May 1957. Asiatic lions were introduced at
Chandra Prabha in 1958. The exercise was successful in the beginning, with the number of lions
increasing from three to eleven by 1969. However, the following year the lions were found
missing. The plan was again revived in 1993 although the Indian Government is yet to take a
decision in this regard.
The sanctuary has an area of 78 square kilometers. The sanctuary lies within the Lower
Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests ecoregion.

Plant communities include alluvial savanna forest, southern dry mixed deciduous forest, dry
deciduous scrub and savanna, dry tropical riverine forest, and desert thorn forest and
scrub

Fauna includes leopard, hyena, wolf, wild boar, Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), Sambar
deer (Cervus unicolor), Chinkara (Gazella gazella), and Chital (Axis axis), and many species
of birds. (Source: Wikipedia)

13 | P a g e
My Observations & Inference

Considering the classic example of Chandra Prabha Wildlife Sanctuary. It serves as a natural
habitat for wild animals and also acts as a life supporting system for all the flora and fauna and
similarly it also serves as a resource base for timber collectors and local people and also serves
as an amenity base for the tourists.

Now, due to heavy tourist attraction it gives the local people a source of income thus reducing
poverty. It also acts as a source of income for the transportation agencies and thus the entire
economy and ecosystem co-exists together.

As, I have noticed being a tourist is that, due to excessive tourist attraction and misuse of
amenities provided like drinking water and other catering products (people throw away plastic
bottles, plates, liquor bottles inside the waterfall and out in the open) thus degrading the
environment as well as the ethnic beauty of the place.

As, the rate of sewage disposal= Assimilative capacity, all four functions can co-exist. If
however, the rate of sewage disposal > Assimilative Capacity, environmental degradation takes
place which may interfere with the natural environment of the sanctuary thus leading to the close
down of tourist activities and thus will lead to the closure of all employment opportunities and
job loss for all of those whose livelihood was dependent upon tourism. It also may lead to
biological extinction of wildlife species and thus will endanger the flora and fauna due to the
destruction of the life supporting system.

In this way, with the help of the experience I gathered on this trip, I thereby establish the
importance of Economy-Ecosystem Interdependence and its importance on human well-being
and eradication of poverty.

14 | P a g e
Ecosystem services & their links to Human Well-Being

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include Provisioning,
Regulating, and Cultural services, which directly affect people, and Supporting services needed
to maintain the other services. Changes in these services affect human well-being through
impacts on security, the necessary material for a good life, health, and social and cultural
relations. These constituents of well-being are in turn influenced by and have an influence on the
freedoms and choices available to people.

(Source: Ecosystems and Human Well-Being- A Framework of Assessment-

Anonymous)

15 | P a g e
These formulations recognize that the relationship of ecosystem conditions and the flow of
services to the well-being of groups of people as well as individuals are diverse and complex.
Further, it changes over time. Many ecosystem changes are planned, but many are inadvertent
consequences of other human activities. Human interventions in nature have had unexpected and
surprising consequences, some of which have harmed and further impoverished those who are
disadvantaged. Equitable and sustainable well-being depends heavily on links with ecosystem
services and on who gains and who loses over time from their use. The MA has identified four
major categories of ecosystem services that bear directly on human well-being: provisioning,
regulating, cultural, and supporting services.

The provisioning function of ecosystems supplies goods and other services that sustain various aspects of
human well-being. By the same token, shortages of food, fiber, and other products have adverse effects on
human well-being, via both direct and indirect pathways. Adverse impacts on livelihoods are of particular
importance. In both social and environmental contexts, livelihood sustainability has three aspects:
 A livelihood is sustainable “when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks
and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future”
 A livelihood is sustainable in a social context when it enhances or does not diminish the
livelihoods of others; and
 A livelihood is sustainable when it does not deplete or disrupt ecosystems to the prejudice
of the livelihoods and well-being of others now or in the future.

Biodiversity is fundamental to many ecosystem services. For example, it provides sustainability

and resilience vital for the livelihoods and coping strategies of many people, especially the rural
poor. They often obtain ecosystem services, and thereby reduce their vulnerability, through
diverse and complex mixes of activities over the seasons. For them, biodiversity has a stabilizing
and buffering function. It provides multiple sources of ecosystem services, as well as fallback
options for food and other resources when times are bad.

The regulating functions of ecosystems also affect human well-being in multiple ways. These
include the purification of air, fresh water, reduced flooding or drought, stabilization of local and
regional climate, and checks and balances that control the range and transmission of certain
diseases, including some that are vector-borne. Without these regulatory functions, the varied
populations of human and animal life are inconceivable. Thus changes to an ecosystem’s
regulatory function may have consequences for human health and other components of well-
being.

Ecosystems also have many consequences for human well-being through the cultural services
they provide—through, for example, totemic species, sacred groves, trees, scenic landscapes,
geological formations, or rivers and lakes. These attributes and functions of ecosystems influence
the aesthetic, recreational, educational, cultural, and spiritual aspects of human experience. Many
changes to these ecosystems, through processes of disruption, contamination, depletion, and
extinction, therefore have negative impacts on cultural life and human experience. Supporting
services are essential for sustaining each of the other three ecosystem services. Thus the link
between supporting services and human well-being occurs indirectly. The diverse links between
ecosystem services and the determinants and constituents of human well-being are illustrated in

16 | P a g e
Figure above. The spatial and temporal forms of these links, as well as their complexity, vary
greatly. Some relationships are immediate; others are lagged. For instance, impairment of food
production causes hunger today and malnutrition before long, bringing lassitude, impaired ability
to concentrate and learn, and increased vulnerability to infectious diseases. Examples of longer
time lags include the clearing of mangroves, which impairs the replenishment of fish stocks
salinization created by badly managed shrimp aquaculture, depletion of groundwater for
irrigation, and the impact of introduced species. Some larger-scale environmental stresses
heighten tensions, leading to possible conflict, and threaten well-being by causing health
problems. For example, Ethiopia and the Sudan, which are both upstream of Egypt, increasingly
need the Nile’s water for their own crops. Worldwide, approximately 40 percent of the world’s
population, living in 80 countries, now faces some level of water shortage. The construction of
large dams, though of benefit through irrigation and power generation, can create new stresses—
particularly in developing countries—by leading to increased levels of schistosomiasis or
displacing people through flooding.

The dual challenge for society is thus to retain and, indeed, sustain a sufficient level of
ecosystem services in a way that contributes to the enhancement of human well-being and the
reduction of poverty. Explicit recognition of these links and of substitutability among the various
forms of capital will help policy-makers and other stakeholders to make informed decisions.
Those, in turn, may produce the most efficient and equitable outcome.

17 | P a g e
 CONCLUSION

Human well-being has a two-way interaction with ecosystem condition, mediated in the one
direction through the services that ecosystems provide to people, and in the other by the largely
unintended impacts of human activities on ecosystem functioning. This feedback loop is self-
regulating when people live in close and inescapable association with their local environment. If
society fails to read the warning signs delivered by a decline in ecosystem services and does not
adjust its activities accordingly, it ultimately fails. Thus most local communities that have been
in one place for long periods of time have developed mechanisms for the protection of ecosystem
services. As societies, via modernization and trade, have become less dependent for their well-
being on the services provided by their local environments, the coupled human–environment
system has become increasingly at risk of overexploitation. In the presence of trade-offs between
services, and between ecosystem services and human well-being, overexploitation can lead to
unambiguous net loss. People, everywhere and at all times, depend absolutely for their lives and
livelihoods on systems, whether local or distant, regardless of their level of awareness of this
dependency.

18 | P a g e
REFERENCES

 MA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment), 2003: Ecosystems and Human Well-Being:

A Framework for Assessment. Island Press, Washington, DC, 245 pp.
 Linking Ecosystem services and human well-Being- Anthony MC Michael & Robert
Scholes.
 Ecosystems and Human Well-Being- A Framework of Assessment- Anonymous.
 Ecosystem Services- Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.
 Natural Resource and Environmental Economics- Roger Perman.
 Internet Help- Wikipedia.

19 | P a g e