Ecosystem services are transformations of natural assets (soil, water, air, and living organisms) into products that are important to humans. Examples include: Production of goods such as fish and timber, Generation of soils and maintenance of their fertility, provision of clean air and water,weather regulation, Pollination of crops and other vegetation,Control of potential pests,Provision of genetic resources,Production of food and fibre, and Provision of cultural, spiritual and intellectual experiences, decomposition, detoxification of wastes, mitigation of climatic extremes, biological control of potential pests, weeds and pathogens, and crop pollination These are just some examples of ecosystem services.
Biodiversity leads to the stability and maintenance of the ecosystem. The latter brings about the purification of air and water, the mitigation of droughts and floods, the maintenance of biodiversity, the moderation of weather extremes and a partial stabilization of the climate.
The value of ecosystem services to humans comes from their role in supporting our lives, their cheapness, and our limited ability to replace them with human-engineered alternatives. Over the past half-century, human activities have caused an unprecedented decline in biological diversity. Species are going extinct a thousand times faster than the natural rate, a loss now being further compounded by climate change. For example Tropical rain forests continue to be felled, destroying valuable endemic species and disrupting local, regional and global climates. Climate change and ocean acidification are destroying coral reefs.
Every single day we are losing 300 km2 of rainforest, (1 acre/second), 40 to 100 species, Already lost 1 million species, Natural rate of extinction – 1species/ year, The present rate is 1species/hour (10,000 times higher)
