3. 3. 3 - ecosystem services

Question 1

what are the ethical reasons for maintaining biodiversity?

Answer 1

• destroying biodiversity –> denies the future generations the opportunity to use these renewable natural resources
• natural world + biodiversity within it provides pleasure for many people –> should be protected/maintained
• if biodiversity is lost when a species becomes extinct –> unique combinations of DNA are lost
• unethical that extinction and loss of biodiversity is due to human activity/ competition for habitat
• unethical for human activity to have the potential to cause mass extinction (global climate change) and our interference with biodiversity on a massive scale

Question 2

what are ecosystem services?

Answer 2

services provided by the natural environment that are of benefit to people

Question 3

what are the main categories within ecosystem services?

Answer 3

1. provisioning services
2. regulating services
3. supporting services
4. cultural services

Question 4

how could we get politicians’ attention?

Answer 4

• by providing economic arguments / benefits
• ecosystem services produce economic benefits and directly/indirectly stop more money being spent on trying to fix the consequences of human activity
• reduces the chances of us finding a new drug

Question 5

what are provisioning services?

Answer 5

• greater the biodiversity, the more potential sources the ecosystem can provide us
• e.g food, fibres for clothing, building materials, fuel, genetic resources for crop improvements, fresh water, medicines

Question 6

what are regulating services?

Answer 6

• ecosystem helps us to maintain and regulate our environment
• e.g water purification, sewage treatment, maintaining air quality and disease regulation (maintaining the climate of the planet)

Question 7

what are supporting services?

Answer 7

• biodiverse ecosystems provide support for other ecosystem services that we need
• e.g soil formation –> we can’t grow food without it

Question 8

what are cultural services?

Answer 8

• biodiverse and healthy ecosystems are important for human health and well-being (used in recreation and education)
• in some areas, the economy of a country can depend on people visiting to observe wild animals and plant life

Question 9

what is the ecosystem services approach?

Answer 9

• will recognise and respect the limits of biological systems and conserve the ecosystem as far as possible
• optimises long-term benefit
• economic value is taken into consideration