BIODIVERSITY AND HUMAN HEALTH
Executive Summary, page 3
by Joseph Dougherty

The Value of Biodiversity

The study of ecology has led to greater appreciation of the services provided by nature, called ecosystem services, including everything from watershed protection to pollination to the flow of nutrients. Together, these ecological services contribute significant economic benefits to human welfare. In fact, the uninterrupted continuation of earth’s natural life support systems is crucial to both the success of the world’s economy and the health of the human species. One authoritative study estimated these benefits at over US$30 trillion per year, far more than the annual GNP of our planet (McNeely 1999).

Today, as ever, human beings are dependent for their sustenance, health, well-being and enjoyment of life on fundamental biological systems and processes. Humanity derives all of its food and many medicines and industrial products from the wild and domesticated components of biological diversity. Biotic resources also serve recreation and tourism, and underpin the ecosystems which provide us with many services.

In a 1997 address to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, Stanford ecologist Gretchen Daily told the audience that the goods and services provided annually by natural ecosystems are worth many trillions of dollars in conventional economic terms, and the prosperity of all societies hinges upon safeguarding them.

While the benefits of such resources are considerable, the value of biological diversity is not restricted to these. The enormous diversity of life in itself is of crucial value, probably giving greater resilience to ecosystems and organisms. Biodiversity also has important social and cultural values.

The benefits of maintaining the components of biodiversity are generally arrayed in three main groups: ecosystem services, biological resources, and social benefits. Some examples of these benefits are presented in the following pages.

The study of nature’s value, as it impacts economic systems and the decision-making process of world governments and corporations, is relatively new and fast-growing field called resource economics. Since every decision about economic development, ecosystem conservation, and human health involves trade-offs and consequences, resource economists seek to provide real estimates of the monetary value behind the many services nature performs for free.

Table 1. Resource economics: the value of ecoystem services
(Costanza, R. 1997).

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References on this page. Click your browser's "Back" button to return to the spot you were reading.

McNeely, 1999. “Biodiversity: Man Is One Among 15 Million Species” IUCN Press Release, http://www.iucn.org/info_and_news/press/biodiversity2000.html.

Costanza, R., et. al. 1997. “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital,” Nature. 387: 256, table 2.