Green-Economy-Report

NATURE AND ITS ROLE IN THE TRANSITION TO A GREEN ECONOMY
N A T U R E I N A G R E E N E C O N O M Y
of nature are particularly unique and/or endangered
(e.g. endemic species or rare habitats). One
possibility to conserve these elements is through the
establishment of protected areas (PA). However,
a large part of nature, including more ‘ordinary’
elements (such as agricultural landscapes and
forests), remains open to wider use and has different
levels of biodiversity. Both represent elements of
‘green infrastructure’ that underpin our socioeconomic
systems (see Box 2.1).
Nature, in all its diversity, provides a range of benefits
to society via the flow of so called ecosystem
services (see Box 2.1 and Box 2.2). For example,
nature provides food, fibre, fuel and water for
human consumption. It also maintains ecosystem
processes that regulate climate, pollinate crops,
recycle nutrients, mitigate natural hazards and
maintain water, soil and air quality. Furthermore,
nature plays an integral role in human enjoyment
(e.g. recreation and aesthetic values), knowledge,
spiritual well-being and cultural identity. These
benefits depend, amongst other things, on the
quantity, quality and diversity of species, genes and
ecosystems. Furthermore, maintaining the diversity
Box 2.1: Key definitions: biodiversity,
ecosystems and ecosystem services
Biological diversity means ‘the variability among
living organisms from all sources, including
terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems
and the ecological complexes of which they are
part; this includes diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems’ (UN, 1993).
The term covers every form of life on earth (plants,
animals, fungi and micro-organisms), the diversity
of communities that they form and the habitats in
which they live. It encompasses three levels:
ecosystem diversity (i.e. variety of ecosystems);
species diversity (i.e. variety of different species);
and genetic diversity (i.e. variety of genes within
species).
Ecosystem means ‘a dynamic complex of plant,
animal and micro-organism communities and their
non-living environment interacting as a functional
unit’ (UN, 1993). Every ecosystem is characterized
by complex relationships between living (biotic)
and non-living (abiotic) components (resources),
sunlight, air, water, minerals and nutrients. The
quantity (e.g. biomass, productivity), quality and
diversity of species (e.g. richness, rarity) all play
an important role. The functioning of an
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of species, habitats and ecological processes helps
ecosystem resilience, i.e. their ability to continue to
provide services under changing environmental
conditions such as climate change. Ecosystem
resilience provides a kind of ‘natural insurance’
against potential shocks and losses of ecosystem
services (TEEB, 2010b).
It should be noted that the term ‘ecosystem services’
is anthropocentric - i.e. it is used to highlight the
values or benefits that nature provides to people,
society or the economy. Nature also has an intrinsic
value beyond its utility to mankind. Both types of
values are important to recognise and keep in mind
when embarking on the path to the green economy.
The wider values of nature were recognised in the
recent Rio+20 outcome document which reaffirms
“the intrinsic value of biological diversity, as well as
the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific,
educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic
values of biological diversity and its critical role in
maintaining ecosystems that provide essential
services, which are critical foundations for
sustainable development and human well-being”
(para 197 UNCSD 2012).
ecosystem often hinges on certain species or
groups of species that perform key functions e.g.
pollination, grazing, predation, or nitrogen-fixing.
Ecosystem services refer to the flow of benefits
that people obtain from ecosystems (MA, 2005).
These include:
• provisioning services (e.g. food, fibre, fuel,
water);
• regulating services (benefits arising from
ecosystem processes that regulate climate,
pollination, natural hazards such as flooding,
spread and outbreak of diseases, waste, air and
water quality);
• cultural services (e.g. recreation, tourism, and
aesthetic, spiritual and ethical values);
• supporting services (e.g. soil formation,
photosynthesis, nutrient cycling; MA, 2005)
necessary for sustaining almost all other
ecosystem services.
Further to the classification above, ‘habitat
services’ can also be recognised as a separate
category of ecosystem services to highlight the
importance of ecosystems to provide habitats for
migratory species (e.g. as nurseries) and as gene
pool ‘protectors’ (maintain gene pool diversity and
vitality) (TEEB, 2010a).