Speech: the importance of ecosystem goods and services for human communities

Opening

Respected judges, teachers and friends,

Every morning we drink water, eat food and breathe air, and we rarely ask where they come from. They come from ecosystems. The things nature gives us directly are called ecosystem goods; the work nature does for us in the background is called ecosystem services. Scientists describe these services as the products of ecosystem processes, such as forests cleaning our air and water. Today I want to show that our well-being, and even our survival, rests on both.

Ecosystem goods that sustain us

• Food. All our grain, vegetables, fruit, milk and fish come from farm, forest and water ecosystems. Forests also give fruits, roots and herbs to the communities living around them; think of the mahua and honey that tribal families of central India collect.
• Water. Rivers, lakes and aquifers supply our drinking water and irrigation. A forested catchment holds monsoon rain and releases it slowly through perennial streams, so the rivers keep flowing after the rains; the Western Ghats forests feed rivers that serve millions in the south.
• Fuel. Firewood and fodder still meet the daily needs of a large part of rural India.
• Medicinal plants. Medicinal plants known for generations treat many ailments, and neem, tulsi and turmeric are part of every Indian household.

Ecosystem services that support us

• Pollination. Insects, bats and birds pollinate the flowers of fruit trees and vegetables, and many of them need intact forests to complete their life cycles. Without bees, our mustard fields and mango orchards would yield far less.
• Climate regulation. Forests and oceans moderate the climate, and ecosystems also control floods and pests for us. A city's trees cool its streets in a Delhi summer.
• Water purification. Forests, wetlands and soils filter water as it passes through them, which is why water from a protected catchment needs less treatment.
• Soil fertility. Earthworms, fungi and termites break down dead plant matter and return nutrients to the soil; the earthworm is rightly called the farmer's friend.

Risks when ecosystem services are degraded or lost

Industrial growth, urbanisation, population growth and rising consumption have pushed us to overuse natural resources until ecosystems can no longer meet the demand. In India this shows up in several ways:

1. Loss of pollinators. As forests and hedgerows give way to highways and housing, and pesticide use rises, pollinators decline and crop yields fall.
2. Water crises. Paved cities stop rain from recharging the ground, and lakes are filled in for buildings, so many growing Indian cities run short of water every summer.
3. Floods. When catchments are deforested and flood plains built over, rainfall runs off at once, bringing flash floods followed by dry streams.
4. Polluted air and water. Industrial effluents and city sewage overload rivers, which can no longer clean themselves; the loss of green cover worsens urban air and heat.
5. Loss of species. Present rates of extinction are 100 to 1,000 times higher than in the past, largely because of human activities such as habitat loss. Every species lost may be a food, medicine or pollinator lost.
6. Hardship for the poor. Forest-dwelling and fishing communities, who depend most directly on ecosystem goods, are the first to suffer.

Closing

Nature does not send us a bill for these services, so we forget their value until they fail. Let us plan our cities with green spaces and lakes, control industrial pollution and protect forests and wetlands, because when we protect ecosystems, we protect ourselves. Thank you.