Ecosystem Functions, Services and Valuation

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Ecosystem Functions, Services and Valuation

• 14-16 February 2005

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Name That City

• Rapid population growth, population doubling
  every 20 years.
• Severe water shortages, fires burn out of control
  because of low water pressure in hydrants.
• Frequent outbreaks of cholera and other diseases
  due to contaminated water recent cholera
  outbreak killed nearly 2 of the citys
  population.
• Most wells are polluted and becoming brackish
  (salty) because of saltwater intrusion.

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New York City, circa 1832
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(No Transcript)
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Ecosystem services provided through natural
ecosystem functioning. The conditions and
processes that provide food, air, water and
virtually everything that we depend on for
living.
Solar Capital
Air resources and purification
Climate control
Recycling vital chemicals
Water resources and purification
Renewable energy resources
Soil formation and renewal
Natural Capital
Nonrenewable energy resources
Waste removal and detoxification
Nonrenewable mineral resources
Natural pest and disease control
Potentially renewable matter resources
Biodiversity and gene pool
Fig. 4.36, p. 99
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Forests and Farm in the Catskill Region
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Forested Wetland Ecosystem
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Sprawl Development in the Catskills
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Land Conversion and Impervious Surfaces
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Lessons Learned

• Ecosystem services are often worth billions of
  dollars, and often dwarf the value of alternative
  development uses.
• We often dont miss ecosystem services until they
  are gone or threatened because we take them for
  granted (we dont have to pay).
• Ecosystem services often benefit users who are
  distant from the source the capture problem.
• Loss of ecosystems and species is not just about
  loss of cute animals. Habitat destruction and
  conversion directly affects human quality of life
  NATURE DOES NOT NEED US, BUT WE NEED IT!