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Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being"Human well-being has five main components: the basic material needs for a good life, health, good social relations, security, and freedom of choice and action. (See Figure A, below) This last component is influenced by other constituents of well-being (as well as by other factors including, notably, education) and is also a precondition for achieving other components of well-being, particularly with respect to equity and fairness. Human well-being is a continuum-from extreme deprivation, or poverty, to a high attainment or experience of well-being. Ecosystems underpin human well-being through supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. Well-being also depends on the supply and quality of human services, technology, and institutions. See also specific information for each main component: Figure A. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being. This figure depicts the strength of linkages between categories of ecosystem services and components of human well-being that are commonly encountered, and includes indications of the extent to which it is possible for socioeconomic factors to mediate the linkage. (For example, if it is possible to purchase a substitute for a degraded ecosystem service, then there is a high potential for mediation.) The strength of the linkages and the potential for mediation differ in different ecosystems and regions. In addition to the influence of ecosystem services on human well-being depicted here, other factors-including other environmental factors as well as economic, social, technological, and cultural factors-influence human well-being, and ecosystems are in turn affected by changes in human well-being. (See Figure B) "  Source:
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment |
