Why Is Preserving Ecosystems Important?

_Elsa_

‘Like all other living beings, humans are dependant on natural ecosystem services to survive. We need it to get the food we eat, the water we drink and to transform raw materials into our everyday products. So, in order to keep our living conditions, it’s truly important that we preserve natural ecosystems.

For example, the agriculture that provides our food depends on the characteristics of a specific ecosystem. Cereals or vegetables grow only under certain conditions of temperature and humidity. They also need certain natural processes, such as pollination, to take place. If we change these characteristics too intensely, there is the risk that we aren’t able to produce what we produce today, or at least not in the same way. That’s why there are some agricultural techniques that understand and manage food production (such as agroforestry, permaculture or regenerative agriculture) that the wider impacts of using herbicides, pesticides, exhausting nearby water sources or betting on different types of trees that make ecosystems more resilient.

There is no straight-forward answer to this question. But human activities have impacts that aren’t instantaneously noticed. This means the visual impact of these effects isn’t there most of the time. As well, the ecological capital is hard to measure.

For instance, transforming land to build a hotel will have specific costs (buying the land, construction materials, manpower) and the revenue can be predicted via estimation of occupancy rate, price per season… But there’s no precise way to quantify what’s the value of that park and those trees that will need to be taken down to build it. What is its value for the environment? And for the families that go there every day? There’s no exact way of answering this, although organizations such as the European Parliament are trying to shed light on this issue.

Apart from the need to use ecosystems services at a large scale to keep the economy rolling, there’s also another very discussed theory on this issue. It says that if an ecosystem service is common and belongs to no one in particular, humans will exploit it until they exhaust it. This theory where individuals pursue their individual interests is called the tragedy of the commons. Find more info about it in our sustainable development definition.

Learn more about ecosystem services, how natural resources are being overexploited, how the environment is being damaged and how to protect ecosystem services for the future generations. ’ (Source)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6luBEJfi3s

Tiffi is finally getting a better grip on ecosystems. These videos are very helpful! She has to call Elsa later to tell her all about this. In the meantime, an article about wildlife catches her eye.

Let’s continue - WILDLIFE FUNDAMENTALS

Start at the beginning - What is an ecosystem?