Biodiversity loss is a big problem that affects the services our ecosystems provide. These services are essential for our health and the health of the environment. We can sort these services into four main types: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.
Provisioning Services: Biodiversity helps give us food, clean water, fuel, and medicine. Research shows that ecosystems with lots of different species can create 20% more food than areas with just one type of crop. For example, having a variety of plants can increase crop production by 25% because they help with pollination and keep pests away.
Regulating Services: Biodiversity is important for keeping our climate stable, ensuring good air quality, and cleaning our water. When we lose biodiversity, ecosystems can’t function well anymore. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that healthy ecosystems can store over 1 billion tons of carbon each year, which helps fight climate change.
Supporting Services: These services involve processes like recycling nutrients and making soil, which are very important for how ecosystems work. Studies show that damaged ecosystems can lower soil quality by up to 50%. This makes it harder for plants to grow and can lead to more damage to the land.
Cultural Services: Biodiversity also gives us experiences like recreation, beauty, and spiritual enrichment. These things improve our lives. Unfortunately, losing natural areas puts these services at risk. For example, more than 30% of the world’s coral reefs are damaged, which impacts tourism and local communities.
According to the World Economic Forum, there’s about $44 trillion worth of economic benefits that rely heavily on nature. This shows how important it is to tackle biodiversity loss. Right now, the rate at which species are going extinct is 100 to 1,000 times higher than what we usually see in nature. We could lose up to 1 million species in the next few decades.
Biodiversity is key for healthy ecosystems, and losing it threatens our ecosystems, affects the economy, and harms people's well-being.
Biodiversity loss is a big problem that affects the services our ecosystems provide. These services are essential for our health and the health of the environment. We can sort these services into four main types: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services.
Provisioning Services: Biodiversity helps give us food, clean water, fuel, and medicine. Research shows that ecosystems with lots of different species can create 20% more food than areas with just one type of crop. For example, having a variety of plants can increase crop production by 25% because they help with pollination and keep pests away.
Regulating Services: Biodiversity is important for keeping our climate stable, ensuring good air quality, and cleaning our water. When we lose biodiversity, ecosystems can’t function well anymore. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that healthy ecosystems can store over 1 billion tons of carbon each year, which helps fight climate change.
Supporting Services: These services involve processes like recycling nutrients and making soil, which are very important for how ecosystems work. Studies show that damaged ecosystems can lower soil quality by up to 50%. This makes it harder for plants to grow and can lead to more damage to the land.
Cultural Services: Biodiversity also gives us experiences like recreation, beauty, and spiritual enrichment. These things improve our lives. Unfortunately, losing natural areas puts these services at risk. For example, more than 30% of the world’s coral reefs are damaged, which impacts tourism and local communities.
According to the World Economic Forum, there’s about $44 trillion worth of economic benefits that rely heavily on nature. This shows how important it is to tackle biodiversity loss. Right now, the rate at which species are going extinct is 100 to 1,000 times higher than what we usually see in nature. We could lose up to 1 million species in the next few decades.
Biodiversity is key for healthy ecosystems, and losing it threatens our ecosystems, affects the economy, and harms people's well-being.