WHO | Ecosystem goods and services for health

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Organization

Climate change and human health

Climate change and Ecosystem goods and services for

human health
health
Policy

Resources

Publications

Projects What is an ecosystem?

The term ecosystem refers to the combined physical and
Evidence and biological components of an environment. These organisms form
monitoring complex sets of relationships and function as a unit as they
interact with their physical environment.
Media centre
Why do
Other global
ecosystems
environmental change
matter for
human
Links
health?
Conferences Ecosystem
services are
the benefits
that people
obtain from
ecosystems.
Ecosystem
services are

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report

indispensable to the wellbeing of all people, everywhere in the

world. They include provisioning, regulating, and cultural
services that directly affect people, and supporting services
needed to maintain the other services. From the availability of
adequate food and water, to disease regulation of vectors, pests,
and pathogens, human health and well-being depends on these
services and conditions from the natural environment.
Biodiversity underlies all ecosystem services.

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WHO | Ecosystem goods and services for health

The causal links between environmental change and human

health are complex because they are often indirect, displaced in
space and time, and dependent on a number of modifying
forces. Human health ultimately depends upon ecosystem
products and services (such as availability of fresh water, food
and fuel sources) which are requisite for good human health and
productive livelihoods. Significant direct human health impacts
can occur if ecosystem services are no longer adequate to meet
social needs. Indirectly, changes in ecosystem services affect
livelihoods, income, local migration and, on occasion, may even
cause political conflict. The resultant impacts on economic and
physical security, freedom, choice and social relations have
wide-ranging impacts on well-being and health, and the
availability and access to health services and medicines.

Threats to ecosystems and health

Human interventions are altering the capacity of ecosystems to
provide their goods (e.g. freshwater, food, pharmaceutical
products, etc) and services (e.g. purification of air, water, soil,
sequestration of pollutants, etc).

Ecosystem disruption can impact on health in a variety of ways

and through complex pathways. The types of health effects
experienced are determined by the degree to which local
population’s depend on ecosystem services, and factors such as
poverty which affect vulnerability to changes in elements like
access to food and water.

UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was called for by
the UN Secretary General in 2000, to assess the consequences
of ecosystem change for human well-being. The MA was a multi-
agency initiative and involved the work of over 1,360 experts
worldwide. The five volumes assessment published in 2005
provides decision-makers and the public with relevant scientific
information on the conditions of ecosystems, consequences of

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WHO | Ecosystem goods and services for health

its change and options for response.

What did the MA tell us about the state of ecosystems

in the world?

1. Over the past 50 years, humans have changed

ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any
comparable period of time in human history, largely to
meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water,
timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a
substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity
of life on Earth.
2. The changes that have been made to ecosystems
have contributed to substantial net gains in human
well-being and economic development, but these
gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form
of the degradation of many ecosystem services,
increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the
exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people.
These problems, unless addressed, will substantially
diminish the benefits that future generations obtain
from ecosystems.
3. The degradation of ecosystem services could grow
significantly worse during the first half of this century
and is a barrier to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals.
4. The challenge of reversing the degradation of
ecosystem while meeting increasing demands for
services can be partially met under some scenarios
considered by the MA, but will involve significant
changes in policies, institutions and practices that are
not currently under way. Many options exist to
conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in
ways that reduce negative trade-offs or that provide
positive synergies with other ecosystem services.

The bottom line of the MA findings is that human actions

are depleting Earth’s natural capital, putting such strain on
the environment that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems
to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for
granted. The assessment also showed that with
appropriate actions it is possible to reverse the degradation
of many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but
the changes in policy and practice required are substantial
and not currently underway.

Source:
http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/About.aspx#1

Conceptual Framework of how human well being and health is

impacted by changes in ecosystems, at local, regional, and
global scales

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WHO | Ecosystem goods and services for health

Download large image

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To read more about the assessment: Visit the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment Web site

related links
Urbanization
Biodiversity loss
Land degradation and desertification
Freshwater ecosystems
Global environmental change links

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