1.2.

4 Ecosystem services
The concept of “ecosystem services” emerged during
the 1970s. According to the
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), Ecosystem
services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems.
There are four categories of ecosystem services (fig. 1.7)
and include provisioning services such as food and water;
regulating services such as pollination of crops, prevention
of soil erosion and water purification, flood and disease
control and waste repository; cultural services such as
spiritual, recreational, a sense of place, sites for shooting
films and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such
as production of atmospheric oxygen, soil
formation and retention, water cycling, nutrient
cycling that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.
Fig. 1.7: Functional categories of ecosystem
services