1. LECTURE 3: UNDERSTANDING THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
What is Ecosystem Services?
Concept of ecosystem services
Support for conservation or Harm for conservation?
19th Oct 2011

2. What is Ecosystem Services?
Defining Ecosystem Services: ESS are the conditions and processes
through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up,
sustain and fulfil human life.
Importance: ESS maintain biodiversity and the production of
ecosystem goods, such as seafood, forage, timber, biomass fuels,
natural fibre, and many pharmaceuticals, industrial products, and their
precursors. The harvest and trade of these goods represent an
important and familiar part of the human economy.

3. Ecosystem Services From theory to implementation
Challenges to the Uptake of the Ecosystem Service Rationale for Conservation
Ecosystems and human well-being
Mangroves ecosystems
Marine and coastal ecosystems

4. Mangroves Ecosystem Services
Grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics
Mangrove swamp, mangrove forest or mangal
Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines
Wave energy is typically low in areas where mangroves grow
Mangroves protect coastal areas from erosion, storm surge (especially during hurricanes), and tsunamis

5. Mangroves Ecosystems

6. Mangal

7. Mangroves forests in Pakistan and South Asia
Pakistani mangroves are located mainly along the Indus delta
Major mangrove forests are located in Sindh and Balochistan
In Karachi, land reclamation projects have led to the cutting down of mangrove forests for commercial and urban development
The largest mangrove forest in the world, ‘Sundarbans’ located in the Ganges river delta in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India
The Pichavaram Mangrove Forest near Chidambaram, South India, by the Bay of Bengal, is the world's second largest mangrove forest

8. Exploitation and conservation
Approximately 35% of mangrove area was lost during the last several decades of the twentieth century, which encompass about half of the area of mangroves
Globalization, industrialization and fast population and economic growth are among the many reasons for the eradication of mangroves forest

9. Marine and coastal Ecosystems
Marine ecosystems are a part of the largest sea system on the planet
Covering over 70% of the Earth's surface
Home to a host of different species ranging from tiny organisms to large marine mammals like the whales, manatees, and seals
Marine ecosystems contain several unique qualities that set them apart from other aquatic ecosystems
Decline in marine ecosystems due to overfishing, coastal development, pollution, and the introduction of exotic species

10. Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital
Capital stock:
Physical form such as
Natural capital: Such as trees, minerals, ecosystems, the atmosphere and so on
Manufactured capital: Such as machines and buildings and the human capital of physical bodies
Intangible forms
Information such as that stored in computers and in individual human brains, as well as that stored in species and ecosystems

11. Ecosystem functions and ecosystem services
Ecosystem functions refer variously to the habitat, biological or system properties or processes of ecosystems
Ecosystem goods (such as food)
Ecosystem services (such as waste assimilation) represent the benefits human populations derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions
Goods and services together refer to ecosystem services

12. Valuation of ecosystem services
Valuation of ecosystems is either impossible or unwise
Protect ecosystems for purely moral or aesthetic reasons

13. Why do ecosystems matter to human health?
Planet's life-support systems for the human species
Basic needs for human provided by an ecosystem such as food, water, clean air, shelter and relative climatic constancy.
Impact on human health due to stresses on freshwater sources, food-producing systems and climate regulation
Cultural, spiritual and recreational services

14. Coursework 1
For a region or country of your choice highlight the main areas of
exposure and vulnerability of people to global environmental change.
Use your analysis to prioritise and justify future policies on environment
and development in your region/country of choice.
Your essay plan should be no more than 1000 words (not including references) and contain the following (with approximate word counts in brackets);
An introduction with outline of aims ( words)
Outline and justification of structure (200 words)
A short outline of the main points in your conclusions ( words)
A correctly formatted bibliography (with some examples of citing them in the introduction) with at least five key sources you would use for the full essay
Deadline for is AM, Tuesday 25th Oct 2011