Sustainability

13Sustainability of Ecosystem Services (ESs)

Carlos S. Osorio-González¹, Niranjan Suralikerimath¹, Krishnamoorthy Hegde¹, and Satinder K. Brar^1,2

¹INRS, Université du Québec, Québec, Canada

²Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada

13.1 Introduction

Ecosystem services (ESs) provide a range of benefits to human societies that grow from natural resources, and ESs explain the human dependency on and trust in nature (Daily 1997; Guerry et al. 2015). The main categories that make up ESs are shown in Figure 13.1. Meanwhile, human societies have been exploiting the use of ESs such as water, food, fodder, medicines, timber, non-timber forest products and a range of indispensable goods derived from nature for basic needs, with the unique purpose of improving human wellbeing (HWB). Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that the foregoing can be confused with other processes that are immersed within the ecosystems themselves (biomass productivity, nutrient cycles, energy flow and hydrological regulations). These components are important but do not fulfill the function of providing or satisfying any basic need for the survival of any part of the ecosystem. The relationship between human societies and nature has been studied from end to end through the lens of a subsistence economy. Nevertheless, there is a need for critical analysis and a change in thinking patterns to mitigate growing challenges like food security and the need ...