HEALTH AND WELLNESS AS
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Module 9
I. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
WHAT CAN WE GET FROM A
HEALTH ECOSYSTEM?
A healthy ecosystem consists of
various organisms engaged in
complexes of relationships with:
other living systems
its environment
produces various benefits termed
ecosystem services
THE MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM
ASSESSMENT
• In 2001, various governments, private and non-government organizations,
and scientists, worked together to conduct an integrated
assessment of the status of ecosystems, the change it has
undergone and the impact of such change for human well-being.
• The assessment was aimed at providing various governments and policy-
makers options available to help them conserve ecosystems
and ensure sustainability of ecosystem services for human survival.
• The final report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was released
in 2005.
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WHAT ARE THESE SERVICES?
processes allow the Earth
to sustain basic life
Any type of benefit to forms, let alone whole
people that can be ecosystems and people.
extracted from nature Without supporting
services, provisional,
regulating, and cultural
services wouldn't exist.
a non-material benefit that
contributes to the A regulating service is the
development and cultural benefit provided by
advancement of people, ecosystem processes that
including how ecosystems moderate natural
play a role in local, phenomena.
national, and global
cultures
WHY WOULD DRIVERS OF CHANGE IMPACT
BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES?
Living systems are tightly connected to their physical and material
environment.
Thus, natural calamities can disrupt ecosystems resulting to
changes in adaptations and/or behaviour patterns of living
organisms.
Humans are part of their ecosystem.
MAN
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DRIVERS OF CHANGE THAT DIRECTLY
OR INDIRECTLY AFFECT BIODIVERSITY:
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of this module, the student should be able to:
1. Examine various ecosystem services in their community that benefits
human health and wellness.
2. Evaluate ecosystem disruption to services specifically on provisioning,
regulating and cultural services as it relate to human health and
wellness.
3. Assess changes in the environment and its impact on health and
wellness, including nutrition, food security, and health using various
global and local data.
II. ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: PROVISIONING
FOR NUTRITION AND FOOD SECURITY
HOW HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS ENSURE PROPER
PROVISIONING SERVICES, PARTICULARLY GOOD
NUTRITION AND CLEAN WATER
• Living systems derive their food from other living systems
• Food sources also vary in their nutritional content thus a
living system derives good nutrition by consuming various
food sources.
Since an ecosystem also contains various organisms in different
habitats feeding on various food sources, a bio-diverse
ecosystem provides good nutrition by delivering various
choices or a mix of macro and micronutrients essential for growth,
good health and well being of every organism in such an ecosystem.
Fig. 1. Diversity of nutrients derived from three (3) different foods
(Source: Remans, R. and Smukler, S. (2013)
• Clean water is provided by a complex interaction of living systems and the ecosystem and the
hydrologic cycle, as well.
• The quantity and quality of water is influenced by the quality and quantity of vegetation and
forests as well.
• Loss of biodiversity can alter or disrupt these provisioning services resulting in health effects.
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IS AGRICULTURE AND AQUACULTURE
THE ANSWER TO FOOD SECURITY?
The relative significance of different direct causes for projected biodiversity loss in South East Asia, 2000-
2050 (GLOBIO 3.0).
Worldwide, one
of the major
contributors to
biodiversity loss is
agriculture (fig. 2).
Source: GLOBIO 3.0, UNEP GRID-Arendal
• Traditionally, agricultural systems evolved as part of the tradition,
beliefs, native technologies and myths of small communities.
• People plant a variety of crops to ensure food supply throughout
the year. Crop diversification promotes sustainable agriculture
while encouraging agro-system resilience and providing health
benefits (Romanelli et al, 2014).
• However, current local agricultural practices have become
incorporated into the global economy with landowners focusing
more on so-called “cash crops” or commodities for export.
• While evolving agricultural practices provide food security by
ensuring enough supply anytime, ironically, agriculture also
destroys the richness of choices for good health and nutrition.
• There is a narrowing array of food sources from which we can
derive micro- and macronutrients to ensure good nutrition and a
healthy population.
• Of the 7,000 crops used as food by humans throughout history,
currently only 12 crops and 5 animals provide more than 75% of
human energy intake with 3 (maize, rice and wheat) providing
more than 50% of caloric intake from plants
• Large plantations to make room for greater food production result not
only in deforestation of large tracts of land but also oversimplification
of food sources since only one or a few types of crops are planted
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The conversion of land to agricultural plantations results in huge
loses to the wildlife and biodiversity of the area due
• habitat loss from the clearing of forests
• dramatic shift in the nature of the ecosystem and the introduction
of synthetics such as fertilizers and pesticides
• that has also led to rapid decline in the population of pollinators
and the microbial biota necessary for nitrogen sequestering by
plants.
• The same is true for aquaculture, that is, farming of the seas
through fishponds and fish pens.
• Both agriculture and aquaculture while supplying
enough food and fish for a growing human population
are also causing the build up of dead zones
Fig. 3. Growth of dead zones over 100 years (1910-2010) and locations in countries worldwide.
• However, the decline in marine biodiversity is not only
due to the build up of dead zones.
• In 2010, the UN’s 3 rd Global Biodiversity Outlook
reported that 80% of the world’s marine fish stocks are
depleted owing to overfishing in the open seas.
• Other aquatic animals such as marine mammals,
birds and other animals such as polar bears
dependent on the sea for food are also dwindling
due to both anthropometric causes and global
warming.
• A collapse of ecosystems supported by the oceans
that comprise 75% of the earth could lead to
collapse of other ecosystems, including those found
inland threatening human’s very own existence.
• Excessive or non-sustainable utilization of ecosystem
services will also compromise the future availability
of these services affecting communities that depend
on them.
• Already global warming and biodiversity losses is
showing evidences (Harvell, et al., 2002) :
• asynchrony of bird migration, mating and rearing
with the arrival of food sources such as insects and
seeds;
• asynchrony plant pollination and arrival of cross-
pollinators, etc.
• Populations of some insects, birds and predators
are also declining due to consumption of food
treated with pesticides or carcasses of animals that
had consumed antibiotics or other synthetics.
• The decrease in the population of predators and
preys will have a domino effect on the food chain.
• Such disruptions in ecosystem interactions
provided by a biodiverse population of living
systems could adversely affect the provisioning
services that such ecosystem provides.
HOW ARE THE PROVISIONING SERVICES O F
THE ECOSYSTEM AFFECTED BY DRIVERS O F
CHANGE IN THE PHILIPPINES
• Over the last century, the rate of biodiversity loss is
considered shocking, with many birds, fishes and
small mammals placed under endangered or
critically endangered species.
• Currently, the buildup of artificial islands is altering
marine biodiversity in the West Philippine sea.
• Thus, it is now one of the countries considered a
biodiversity hotspot and many areas are classified
as extremely urgent or critical for conservation.
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[Link] SERVICES 2:
REGULATING SERVICES THAT IMPACTS
ON HEALTH
HOW IS A HEALTHY ECOSYSTEM ABLE TO REGULATE A N D
CONTROL DISEASES OR CONTRIBUTE TO WELLNESS?
• Regulating services are ecosystem services that ensure
the quality of air, water, and soil and control diseases
and risks, including environmental hazards
• The microbiota in the gut contributes to nutrition by producing
vitamins and aiding digestion and fermentation of food.
Mangroves protect coastal areas from storm surges while
providing habitats for fishes and various marine resources.
Other regulating services include those that impact
on the physical environment:
• presence of species such as mangroves
• wetlands and soil microbiomes ensure that wastes
produced by living systems are treated and
contained so that it does not put communities and
the ecosystem at risk for contamination and ill
health
• Global, regional and national assessments stated clearly
that human health is influenced by the health of the
ecosystem, including the plants and animals in it that they
interact with.
• The health of communities is largely defined by
interactions between people and their bio-diverse
environment.
• A degraded ecosystem will be unable to mitigate the
impacts of pollution, climate change, water scarcity and
diseases, among others
[Link] SERVICES 3: AESTHETIC
AND CULTURAL SERVICES AND ITS IMPACT
ON PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH
HOW DOES BIODIVERSITY LOSS CONTRIBUTE TO THE
RISE IN NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES, MENTAL,
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH PROBLEMS?
• Several studies have shown the contribution of
green spaces to psychological, physiological and
endocrinal health.
• The rise of non-communicable diseases such as
diabetes has been attributed not just to
consumption of high fat from production-intensive
animal sources but also to the loss of green spaces
and the opportunities for recreation and exercise
Direct effects on health
Biodiversity change can directly
affect human health and well-being,
such as through disease regulation
and pollution control
Biodiversity Human health
Indirect or ‘cultural’ pathway
of effects on health
Biodiversity loss results in fewer cultural
goods, thus reducing the opportunity to
place cultural values upon those goods. Human
Cultural goods This in turn can negatively impact upon well-being
human well-being and hence human health
Cultural values
TRENDS in Ecology & Evolution
Figure 1. The direct and indirect (cultural) pathways from biodiversity to human health. Biodiversity change can directly affect human health, such as through the regulation
of the emergence and transmission of diseases, or via pollution control. We propose that biodiversity change can also indirectly impact upon human health via cultural
pathways; biodiversity loss affects the provision of cultural goods, which reduces our opportunity to realise the cultural value placed upon those goods and, consequently,
negatively impacts upon human well-being and, therefore, health.
• The entire landscape produced by living systems provides a place for
recreation, meditation, enhanced aesthetic aspirations and cultural identity—
non-material benefits that is essential to psychological wellbeing.