Box 3.1. Linkages between Ecosystem Services and Human Well-being:
Security
(see figure on linkages in Box 3.1  ).
See also specific information for each main component:
"By security, we refer to safety of person and possessions, secure access to necessary resources, and security from natural and human-made disasters. Changes in regulating services such as disease regulation, climate regulation, and flood regulation have very strong influences on security. Changes in provisioning services such as food and water have strong impacts on security, since degradation of these can lead to loss of access to these essential resources. Changes in cultural services can influence security since they can contribute to the breakdown or strengthening of social networks within society. Changes in supporting services have a strong influence by virtue of their influence on all the other categories of services. These benefits are moderately mediated by socioeconomic circumstances. The wealthy have access to some safety nets that can minimize the impacts of some ecosystem changes (such as flood or drought insurance). Nevertheless, the wealthy cannot entirely escape exposure to some of these changes in areas where they live.
One example of an aspect of security affected by ecosystem change involves influences on the severity and magnitude of floods and major fires. The incidence of these has increased significantly over the past 50 years. Changes in ecosystems and in the management of ecosystems have contributed to these trends. The canalization of rivers, for example, tends to decrease the incidence and impact of small flood events and increase the incidence and severity of large ones. On average, 140 million people are affected by floods each year-more than all other natural or technological disasters put together. Between 1990 and 1999, more than 100,000 people were killed in floods, which caused a total of $243 billion in damages (C7.4.4)."
Source & ©
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
 Synthesis Report (2005),
Chapter 3, p.54
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