Table 2.2. Indicative Ecosystem Service Trade-offs.
"The nature and direction of trade-offs among ecosystem services depends significantly on the specific management practices used to change the target service and on the ecosystem involved. This table summarizes common directions of trade-offs encountered across ecosystem services, although the magnitude (or even direction) of the trade-off may differ from case to case.
Legend:
- : change in the left column has a negative impact on the service above
+: change in the left column has a positive impact on the service above
o : the change is neutral or has no effect on the service above
NA : the category is not applicable"
Manage-
ment Practice |
Provisioning Services |
Regulating Services |
Cultural Services |
Supporting Services |
| Food Production |
Water Availability and Quality |
Fiber Production |
Carbon Seques-
tration |
Disease Reduction |
Flood Control |
Eco-
tourism Potential |
N Regulation (Avoidance of Eutro-
phication) |
Increased food production through intensi-
fication of agriculture |
Intervention Target |
- |
0 |
- |
+/- |
0 |
0 |
- |
| Note: Agricultural ecosystems reduce exposure to certain diseases but increase the risk of other diseases |
| Increased food production through expansion of agriculture |
Intervention Target |
- |
- |
- |
+/- |
- |
- |
- |
| Increased wild fish catch |
Intervention Target |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
+/- |
+/- |
| Note: Increased fish catch can increase ecotourism opportunities (e.g., increased sport fishing opportunities) or decrease them if the levels are unsustainable or if the increased catch reduces populations of predators that attract tourists (e.g. killer whales, seals, sea lions). |
| Damming rivers to increase water availability |
+ |
Intervention Target |
- |
+/- |
- |
+/- |
+/- |
- |
| Note: River modification can reduce flood frequency but increase the risk and magnitude of catastrophic floods. Reservoirs provide recreational opportunities but the recreational opportunities associated with the original river are lost. |
| Increased timber harvest |
- |
+/- |
Intervention Target |
- |
+/- |
+/- |
- |
0 |
| Timber harvest generally reduces availability of wild sources of food. |
| Draining or filling wetlands to reduce malaria risk |
+ |
- |
0 |
0 |
Intervention Target |
- |
- |
- |
| Note: Filled wetlands are often used for agriculture. Loss of wetlands results in a loss of water cleansing capability, loss of a source of flood control and loss of ecotourism potential. |
| Establishing a strictly protected area to maintain biodiversity and provide recreation |
- |
+ |
- |
+ |
+/- |
+ |
+ |
+ |
| Note: Strictly protected areas may result in the loss of a local source of food supply and fiber production. The presence of the protected area protects water supplies and water quality, prevents emissions of greenhouse gases that might have resulted from habitat conversion and increases tourism potential. |
Source: MA
Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis (2005),
Chapter 2, p.48
Related publication:
Other Figures & Tables on this publication:
Box 3.1 Table. Selected Water-related Diseases.
Table 1.1. Comparative table of reporting systems as defined by the Millennium Assessment
Table 2.1. Trends in the Human Use of Ecosystem Services and Enhancement or Degradation of the Service Around the Year 2000 - Provisioning services
Table 2.1. Trends in the Human Use of Ecosystem Services and Enhancement or Degradation of the Service Around the Year 2000 - Regulating services
Table 2.1. Trends in the Human Use of Ecosystem Services and Enhancement or Degradation of the Service Around the Year 2000 - Cultural services
Table 2.1. Trends in the Human Use of Ecosystem Services and Enhancement or Degradation of the Service Around the Year 2000 - Supporting services
Table 2.2. Indicative Ecosystem Service Trade-offs.
Table 5.1. Main Assumptions Concerning Indirect and Direct Driving Forces Used in the MA Scenarios
Table 5.2. Outcomes of Scenarios for Ecosystem
Services in 2050 Compared with 2000
Table 5.3. Outcomes of Scenarios for Human Well-being in 2050 Compared with 2000
Table 5.4. Costs and Benefits of Proactive as Contrasted with Reactive Ecosystem Management as Revealed in the MA Scenarios
Table 8.1. Applicability of Decision Support Methods and Frameworks
Marine, Coastal, and Island Systems
Urban, Dryland and Polar systems
Forest systems
Cultivated systems
Inland water and Mountain systems
Box Figure B. Proportion of Population with Improved Drinking Water Supply in 2002
Box Figure C. Proportion of population with improved sanitation coverage in 2002
Figure 1.2. Conversion of Terrestrial Biomes
Figure 1.3. Decline in Trophic Level of Fisheries Catch Since 1950
Figure 1.4. Locations reported by various studies as undergoing high rates of land cover change in the past few decades.
Figure 1.5. Global Trends in the Creation of Reactive Nitrogen on Earth by Human Activity, with Projection to 2050
Figure 1.7. Growth in Number of Marine Species Introductions.
Figure 1.8. Species Extinction Rates
Figure 3.4. Collapse of Atlantic Cod Stocks Off the East Coast of Newfoundland in 1992
Figure 3.5. Dust Cloud Off the Northwest Coast of Africa, March 6, 2004
Figure 3.6. Changes in Economic Structure for Selected Countries
Figure 3.7. Human Population Growth Rates, 1990-2000, and Per Capita GDP and Biological Productivity in 2000 in MA Ecological Systems
Figure 4.1. GDP Average Annual Growth, 1990-2003
Figure 4.2. Per capita GDP Average Annual Growth, 1990-2003
Figure 4.3. Main Direct Drivers of Change in Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Figure 5.1. MA World Population Scenarios
Figure 5.3. Number of Ecosystem Services Enhanced or Degraded by 2050 in the Four MA Scenarios
Figure 6.1. MA Sub-Global Assessments
Figure 7.1. Characteristic Time and Space Scales Related to Ecosystems and Their Services
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being
Box 6.1 Local Adaptations of MA Conceptual Framework
Scenarios of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
MA Scenarios - Global Orchestration
MA Scenarios - Order from Strength
MA Scenarios - TechnoGarden
MA Scenarios - Adapting Mosaic
Marine, Coastal and Island systems
Urban, Dryland and Polar systems
Forest and Cultivated systems
Inland waters and Mountain systems
MA Systems
Box 2.1: Ecosystem Services
Box 2.1: Ecosystem Services
Box 3.2. Ecosystems and the Millennium Development Goals
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Basic Materials for a Good Life
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Health
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Good Social Relations
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Security
Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Freedom of Choice and Action
Box 6.1 Local Adaptations of MA Conceptual Framework
Figure 1.1. Time Series of Intercepted Continental Runoff and Large Reservoir Storage, 1900-2000
Figure 1.6. Estimated Total Reactive Nitrogen Deposition from the Atmosphere
Figure 2.1. Estimated Global Marine Fish Catch, 1950-2001.
Figure 2.2. Trend in Mean Depth of Catch Since 1950.
Figure 3.1. Net National Savings Adjusted for Investments in Human Capital, Natural Resource Depletion, and Damage Caused by Pollution compared with Standard Net National Savings Measurements
Figure 3.2. Annual Flow of Benefits from Forests in Selected Countries
Figure 3.3. Economic Benefits Under Alternate Management Practices
Table 4.1. Increase in Nitrogen Fluxes in Rivers to Coastal Oceans
Figure 5.2. Comparison of Global River Nitrogen Export
Figure 5.4. Number of Undernourished Children Projected in 2050 Under MA Scenarios
Figure 5.5. Net Change in Components of Human Well-being Between 2000 and 2050 Under MA Scenarios.
Figure 8.1. Total Carbon Market Value per Year (in million dollars nominal)
