quality, and shifts in regional climate for which management of ecosystems becomes critical to maintaining stability in ecosystem services provision (Burkle et al., 2014).
As established, biodiversity is directly related to the provision of ecosystem services. This implies that a biodiverse ecosystem will provide better services, and, resiliency of ecosystems and human communities to disturbances, and, vice versa (Colding and Barthel, 2012). To achieve this, Mace et al.
(2012) asserts that all constituents of ecosystems are important for producing goods and services.
However, Díaz et al. (2006: 1300) state that some constituents of ecosystems are more critical than others, for instance, “functional composition-identity, abundance, and range of species traits” has adverse effects on the goods and services produced by ecosystems, while less common species will have less impact. It is therefore important to focus conservation efforts on maintaining the veracity of ecosystems through sustaining the structure, profusion, operative arrangement, and quantities of species in an ecosystem (Mace et al., 2012). This would ensure well-functioning ecosystem processes giving rise to incessant supply of ecosystem services.
The MEA (2005) places ecosystem services as a central organising principle within the nexus of ecosystems, biodiversity and human well-being. For instance, the use of traditional medicines is dependent upon the presence of medicinal plants that are able to cure ailments suffered by the communities living proximate to an ecosystem. However, ecosystem goods and services are context specific, that is, each community has values and cultures on what they deem to be an ecosystem service (Díaz et al., 2006; Mace et al., 2012). Holistically, ecosystem services are express and non- express products of well-operating ecosystem processes (Díaz et al., 2006).
3.4.1 Human well-being
Jones and Solomon (2013: 669) assert that “biodiversity is essential to the well-being of the planet and, in particular, for the human beings that live on it.” Human well-being is experienced when there is provision of the basic needs of life such as shelter, security, food, water, energy, identity, health, freedom of choice and action (Díaz et al., 2006; Secretariat of the CBD, 2010). According to Díaz et al. (2006: 1301), human well-being is influenced by “cultural, geographical, and historical context in which different human communities develop, and is determined by cultural, socio-economic processes and provision of ecosystem services.” As established, human well-being is dependent on ecosystem services, however, mere abundance of an ecosystem service does not imply that it contributes significantly to human well-being; what matters is the demand placed on that service (MEA, 2005;
Secretariat of the CBD, 2010). Thus, a decline in supply of a highly demanded service will have a substantial impact on human well-being when compared to an abundant less demanded service.
The Johnson et al. (2013) asserts that there is no comprehensive understanding as to how changes in ecosystem services affect human well-being. However, for the services that have been monitored, scientists demonstrate an intricate nonlinear relationship between biodiversity and ecosystems, and, human well-being as it involves processes which interact to produce a life support system for humankind (Secretariat of the CBD, 2010). According to Driver et al. (2012), well-managed ecosystems are able to reduce the impact of disasters and thus play an important role in mitigating disasters. Further, well-managed ecosystems adapt well to climate change through increased resilience to the impact of climate change on ecosystems and human communities (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-IPCC, 2014).
Globally, ecosystems contribute significantly towards employment creation as well as the economic well-being through commercialisation of the goods and services produced (MEA, 2005; Jones and Solomon, 2013; SANBI, 2013). It must be noted, however, that disparities exist in the contribution of ecosystems to employment in developed and developing countries (MEA, 2005). In South Africa, ecosystems are important and their value is significant as exemplified in Table 3.4, which provides monetary values of open spaces in Durban alone.
Table 3.4: Value of open spaces in Durban (Adapted from: DEAT, 2006: 110)
Ecosystem Size
(hectares)
Rand value (millions)
Beaches and rock outcrops 1 039 30.2
Alien vegetation 3 787 24.8
Forest 10 581 195.3
Disturbed woodlands 2 823 29.5
Field crops 741 0.7
Dry valley thicket or broadleaved woodland 18 306 267.5
Grassland 2 828 6.8
Tree crops 14 0.2
Recreational 1 712 4.1
Utility 289 0.5
Wetland forest 201 33.7
Wetland (non-woody) 5 485 1 108.80
Near shore ocean (the ecosystem in the area of ocean just off the shore)
50 000 837.2
Water 3 093 428.8
Wooded grasslands 11 145 116.4
Settlements 865 6.4
As indicated in Table 3.4, the highly valued open space is the wetland (non-woody) valued at R1 108.80 billion followed by near shore ocean valued at R837.2 million. On the other hand, tree crops and utility open spaces have low values of R0.2 million and R0.5 million respectively.
In third world countries, human well-being is compromised by lack of basic needs of life such as food, shelter and clothing which is related to poor health of ecosystems (Benson, 2013). These aspects among others have become a priority for global leaders through the Millennium Development Goals (Elliott, 2012). The high rate of poverty exacerbated by a population lacking skills and high unemployment rate affects human well-being both in rural and urban areas (DEAT, 2006). These factors push populations in search for livelihoods into urban areas with the hope of employment.
However, when urban areas cannot absorb immigrants into its structures, people turn to the natural environment for shelter, food, fuel and employment (DEAT, 2006). This usually causes conflicts as people encroach onto private or public land demarcated for environmental conservation (Leon, 2007).