Topic: ecosystem services

The Aral Sea, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, is a cautionary tale about how changes to ecosystems can have far-reaching impacts on the communities that depend on the services they provide.

Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity. We are increasingly finding that “biological diversity”—life on earth, including the variability among living organisms within species and between species—is essential to human well-being.

In Central America, the Maya Nut is making it clear that trees are worth more standing than cut down.

Skyrocketing food prices have triggered riots across the developing world and forced the world’s largest food aid agency to confront a $500 million deficit. The media are focused on short-term consequences, but there are also concerns about the long-term forecast for global food security, poverty, and hunger.

Corporate procurement managers are increasingly looking for ways to ensure that wood and paper-based products are environmentally and socially sound. The WRI/WBCSD procurement guide being released today is a toolbox to help them.

Climate change may dominate headlines today. Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow. Why should business care?

Man-made flood-control systems—such as levees, upstream dams, and canals—continue to be responsible for widespread damage to the New Orleans and Louisiana landscapes.

Border security is not typically recognized as being tied to environmental changes, but in this recent article by The New York Times, the links are clear. It details how declining fish catches in northwest Africa are fueling immigration to Europe.

My team at WRI, together with Dr. Bob Diaz at the Virginia Marine Institute, has identified and mapped 415 eutrophic and hypoxic coastal systems worldwide through an extensive literature review. Of these, 169 are documented hypoxic areas, 233 are areas of concern and 13 are systems in recovery.