Walter Reid on the Consequences of Ecosystem Changes for Human Well-being
What is the real cost of damage to our ecosystem services? Walter Reid of Stanford
University and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment program spoke October 5th on the
status and future of the world’s ecosystem services and the real cost of their degradation
to business and, ultimately, human well-being.
This was the first presentation in the Environmental and Biological Conservation Forum
series which sponsors presentations on conservation science. The series is a joint
initiative of the Biology and Environmental Sciences departments, supported by funds
from the Environmental Sciences and Biology Departments, Environmental Thought and
Practice, and the Dean of Students Office. The Forum is under the umbrella of the
Provost’s Office Conservation and Culture program.
Reid stated that the recently undertaken Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project is the
largest ever study of the health of the world’s ecosystems. It involves
1,360 experts in 95 countries seeking consensus and working to bring about policy
change.
He described the project as a social process to bring the findings of science to bear on
political and governmental decision makers. By including the reviews of business CEO’s
as well as the analysis and judgment of scientists, the assessment has both political and
scientific credibility. The focus of the assessment is on ecosystem services, that include
provisioning services (food, freshwater and timber), and regulating services (disease,
floods climatology), as well as cultural services (spiritual, religious, and aesthetic).
Reid defined human well-being as a state of security, in which material status, good
health and social relations result in freedom of choice and action. The assessment
examines how biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide are being reduced
world-wide, and identifies the direct and indirect drivers of this degradation. Multi-scale
assessments have been completed for the Caribbean, British Columbia, Portugal,
Southern Africa, Central Asia, and New Guinea.
Over the past 50 years, population growth and industrial development has driven the
greatest environmental change observed in any other period of recorded history. The
ecosystem change and the subsequent consequences include a dramatic habitat loss in the
oceans and on land. Carbon dioxide concentrations are increasing rapidly which
contributes to higher temperatures of the earth. According to the Millennium Assessment,
60% of the earth’s critical ecosystem services have been degraded.
Due to the degradation of ecosystems there is increasing harm to poor peoples of the
world, and particularly to those living in drylands or desert climates. On balance, the
negative effects have outweighed the positive achievements of economic development.
An 80% increase in food production is required if we are to support the world’s
increasing population in the 21st century.
The findings of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reveal that multi-scale
assessments offer the hope of reversing the pace of environmental degradation by 2050 if
action is taken to eliminate subsidies and trade barriers, improve education and to reduce
poverty. The message they convey is that we must measure, treat and invest in ecosystem
services as valuable, quantifiable items so they can be paid for at their true cost.