Indicators of the importance of biodiversity change for human wellbeing

To understand what we lose from the extinction of some species and the genetic erosion of others requires that we understand how these species contribute to the wealth of nations. It is not enough to lament their disappearance. We need to be able to identify the consequences of their loss for human wellbeing. Just as it can be shown that the increasing abundance of cultivated and domesticated species enhances wellbeing, we need to be able show that the declining abundance of other species can have the opposite effect. There are currently few reliable indicators of the importance of biodiversity change for human wellbeing. Although we know quite a lot about the benefits that people obtain from exploiting particular groups of species, and about the ecosystem services that lie behind those benefits, we still do not have good measures of what society gains and loses from more general changes in species richness and abundance. The point was made in earlier chapters that while the MA was able to say whether the physical flows of ecosystem services had been enhanced or degraded in the last fifty years, it was unable to value the loss of cultural or regulating services relative to the gain in provisioning services. It was not able to say whether the trade-offs being made between ecosystem services were warranted, given the costs and benefits involved. Nor was it able to say whether the investments people have made in the conversion of ecosystems for the production of foods, fuels, and fibers has made us collectively richer or poorer.