Question

What is an ecosystem service? List any four important ecosystem services provided by the natural ecosystems. Are you in favour or against levying a charge on the service provided by the ecosystem?

Answer 1

The products of ecosystem processes are named ecosystem services, for example, healthy forest ecosystems purify air and water, mitigate droughts and floods, cycle nutrients, generate fertile soils, provide wildlife habitat, maintain biodiversity, pollinate crops, provide storage site for carbon and also provide aesthetic, cultural and spiritual values. Though the value of such services of biodiversity is difficult to determine, it seems reasonable to think that biodiversity should carry a hefty price tag. Robert Constanza and his colleagues have very recently tried to put price tags on nature’s life-support services. Researchers have put an average price tag of US $ 33 trillion a year on these fundamental ecosystem services, which are largely taken for granted because they are free. This is near twice the value of the global gross national product GNP which is (US $ 18 trillion).