Table 2.

Global status of ecosystem services (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005).

service	statusa	notes
provisioning services
food
crops	+	substantial production increase
livestock	+	substantial production increase
capture fisheries	−	declining production due to overharvest
aquaculture	+	substantial production increase
wild foods	−	declining production
fibre
timber	±	forest loss in some regions, growth in others
cotton, hemp, silk	±	declining production of some fibres, growth in others
wood fuel	−	declining production
genetic resources	−	lost through extinction and crop genetic resource loss
biochemicals, natural medicines, pharmaceuticals	−	lost through extinction, overharvest
fresh water	−	unsustainable use for drinking, industry and irrigation; amount of hydro energy unchanged, but dams increase ability to use that energy
regulating services
air quality regulation	−	decline in ability of atmosphere to cleanse itself
climate regulation
global	+	net source of carbon sequestration since mid-century
regional and local	−	preponderance of negative impacts
water regulation	±	varies depending on ecosystem change and location
erosion regulation	−	increased soil degradation
water purification and waste treatment	−	declining water quality
disease regulation	±	varies depending on ecosystem change
pest regulation	−	natural control degraded through pesticide use
pollination	−b	apparent global decline in abundance of pollinators
natural hazard regulation	−	loss of natural buffers (wetlands, mangroves)
cultural services
spiritual and religious values	−	rapid decline in sacred groves and species
aesthetic values	−	decline in quantity and quality of natural lands
recreation and ecotourism	±	more areas accessible but many degraded

^a+ means enhanced,−means degraded, in the senses defined in the main text.

^bThe evaluation here is of ‘low to medium certainty’; all other trends are ‘medium to high certainty’.