Chapter 2 Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are classified into four main categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Provisioning services include cultivated crops, livestock, wild fish, and wild edible species, as well as timber, non-wood fibers, biofuel, freshwater, genetic resources, and natural pharmaceuticals. Regulating services refer to the ecosystem’s role in maintaining air quality, regulating global and local climate, controlling water flows and erosion, purifying water and waste, and managing pests, diseases, pollination, and natural disaster risks. Cultural services encompass recreational activities like hiking, birdwatching, and ecotourism, as well as spiritual, religious, aesthetic, and intrinsic values attributed to ecosystems and biodiversity. Supporting services involve nutrient cycling and primary production, which underpin ecosystem productivity by recycling nutrients and producing biomass through processes such as photosynthesis, forming the foundation of aquatic and terrestrial food webs.