Fact Sheet #6
Understanding
Ecosystem
Services
JAMAICA’S PROTECTED AREAS… towards
safeguarding Jamaica's globally significant
biodiversity
MAY 2014
Jamaica’s policy framework for the national system of protected areas defines a protected area as “an area of
land or water that is managed for the protection and maintenance of its ecological systems, biodiversity and/or
specific natural, cultural or aesthetic resources.”
An ecosystem is a self-regulating community of plants and animals interacting
with each other and with their non-living environment (Convention of Biological
Diversity).
Jamaica’s ecosystems
include:
Ecosystems:
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 Are Earth’s primary producers yielding the most basic necessities essential for
human life – e.g. food, water, fuel and medicines
 Provide essential functions – services like air and water purification, climate
control, nutrient cycling, soil production and disease control
 Provide aesthetic enjoyment, recreation and places for religious expression
When the products of ecosystems are harvested, they not only provide
employment but contribute significantly to economic growth – global agriculture
alone produces US$1.3 trillion in food and fibre each year.
Jamaica has several ecosystem types, each of which is important in terms of its
function, benefits derived and the biodiversity it supports. All ecosystems are
interrelated, i.e. activities in one area often affect the state of other areas.
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Forests
Plains
Rivers
Wetlands such as
mangrove forests
Beaches
Seagrass beds
Coral reefs
Offshore cays
Examples of Goods and Services Provided By Ecosystems and
Examples of Human Induced Pressures on Ecosystems
Ecosystem
Goods
Services
Human-Induced
Pressures
Causes
Coastal and Fish and shellfish
Seaweed (for food
Marine
Ecosystems and industrial
Prevent moderate storm impacts
(by mangroves, for example)
Provide wildlife habitat
Maintain biodiversity
Provide harbours and transportation
routes
Provide human habitat
Provide employment
Provide for aesthetic enjoyment and
recreation
Timber
Forest
Ecosystems Fuelwood
Remove air pollutants, emit oxygen
Cycle nutrients
Perform an array of watershed
functions (infiltration, purification,
flow control, soil stabilization)
Maintain biodiversity
Sequester atmospheric carbon
Moderate weather impacts
Generate soil
Provide employment
Provide human and wildlife habitats
Provide for aesthetic enjoyment and
recreation
Buffer water flow (control timing
and volume)
Dilute and carry away wastes
Cycle nutrients
Maintain biodiversity
Provide aquatic habitat
Provide transportation corridor
Provide employment
Provide for aesthetic enjoyment and
recreation
Over-exploitation of
fisheries
Conversion of coastal
habitats such as wetlands
Water pollution from
agricultural and industrial
sources
Fragmentation or
destruction of natural
tidal barriers and reefs
Invasion of non-native
species
Potential sea-level rise
Conversion or fragmentation resulting from
agricultural or urban uses
Deforestation, resulting in
loss of biodiversity,
release of stored carbon,
air and water pollution
Acid rain from industrial
pollution
Over-extraction of water
for agricultural, urban and
industrial uses
Population growth
Increasing demand for food
and coastal tourism
Urbanization
Government fishing subsidies
(e.g. for boat fuel) that
increase the number of
fishers
Inadequate information about
ecosystem conditions
Climate change
Agricultural and industrial
development
Population growth
Increasing demand for timber
Unregulated/unmonitored
timber extraction and
logging
Inadequate valuation of costs
of industrial air pollution
Poverty
Over-extraction of water
for agricultural, urban and
industrial uses
Overexploitation of inland
fisheries
Building dams for irrigation,
hydropower and flood
control
Water pollution from
agricultural, urban and
industrial uses
Invasion by non-native
species
Population growth
Widespread water scarcity
and naturally uneven
distribution of water
resources
Government subsidies of
water use
Inadequate valuation of costs
of water pollution
Poverty and insecure tenure
Growing demand for
hydropower
use)
Salt
Genetic resources
Drinking and
irrigation water
Non-timber
products (e.g.
vines, bamboos)
Food (honey,
fruit, and other
edible plants)
Freshwater Drinking and
Ecosystems irrigation water
Aquatic life (e.g.
fish, “janga”,
“bussu”)
Hydroelectricity
Genetic resources
Healthy, functioning ecological services – such as nutrient cycling, flood control, climate control, soil productivity, forest
health, pollination and natural pest control – underpin Jamaica’s way of life and its socio-cultural fabric. Key economic
sectors rely directly or indirectly on the country’s natural resources and ecosystems which provide goods and services that
contribute to people’s livelihoods and national income as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Strengthening the Operational and Financial Sustainability of the National Protected Area System Project
For additional information contact: National Environment and Planning Agency
10 & 11 Caledonia Avenue, Kingston 5, Jamaica
E-mail - pubed@nepa.gov.jm
All photographs courtesy of the National Environment and Planning Agency