The Influence of Ecosystem Services Towards Human Wellbeing

Book excerpt: Ecosystem services provide benefits to humans, including- ̄provisioning services (food, water, timber, fibre and genetic resources), regulating services (regulation of climate, floods, diseases and water quality), cultural services (recreational, aesthetic and spiritual), and support services (soil formation, pollination and nutrient cycling). Promoting the concept of ecosystem services reveals the potential of its contribution to environmental wellbeing for conservation and sustainability. Humans, as users of the provided services, benefit from ecosystem services, fostering dependency on nature. The use of ecosystem services may lead to unintended environmental consequences throughout the supply chain. Hence, this book will focus on the services provided for human wellbeing and a multilayer association with human problems worldwide when supply chains are disturbed. Carbon emissions from city areas are responsible for 75% of world carbon dioxide emissions, making them a significant contributor to climate change. Urban populations are early responders to the impacts of climate change. In addition, ecosystem services are influenced by human activities. Domestic and industrial water pollution has led to the contamination of drinking water in many parts of the world. Waste management, such as solid waste management and biomedical waste management, is considered crucial for balancing ecosystem services as a consequence of human activities. In addition, air pollution has become part of ecosystem service disturbance, as it has become a worldwide problem and a major threat to the surrounding environment and human health. The major sources of air pollutants are mobile sources and stationary and transboundary emissions. Human activities, such as mining and exploration, have brought naturally occurring radioactive elements, such as gamma rays, which are present at relatively low concentrations in many geologic formations and earth materials, to the surface and have become a threat to human health. Among others, loud noise exposure in occupational settings has been found to be hazardous to hearing organs. Environmental stressors that lead to ecosystem changes have been shown to trigger noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The emergence and re-emergence of vector-borne diseases, such as Zika, Dengue and Malaria, are rapidly influenced by changes in ecosystem services. Many studies have been conducted to develop effective vaccines to combat such diseases. New drugs have been developed from natural resources with the aim of combating drug resistance, enhancing efficacy and reducing toxicity. In addition, a health education programme (HEP) is also being developed to improve the quality of life of patients. A broad spectrum of research is reported in this book covering environmental monitoring, modelling, molecular research, natural product discovery and health education programmes, showing the importance of support from ecosystem services that must be preserved for future wellbeing.