Global trends in nature's contributions to people

Declining biodiversity and ecosystem functions put many of nature’s contributions to people at risk. We review and synthesize the scientific literature to assess 50-y global trends across a broad range of nature’s contributions. We distinguish among trends in potential and realized contributions of nature, as well as environmental conditions and the impacts of changes in nature on human quality of life. We find declining trends in the potential for nature to contribute in the majority of material, nonmaterial, and regulating contributions assessed. However, while the realized production of regulating contributions has decreased, realized production of agricultural and many material commodities has increased. Environmental declines negatively affect quality of life, but social adaptation and the availability of substitutes partially offset this decline for some of nature’s contributions. Adaptation and substitutes, however, are often imperfect and come at some cost. For many of the contributions of nature, we find differing trends across different countries and regions, income classes, and ethnic and social groups, reinforcing the argument for more consistent and equitable measurement.

Fil: Brauman, Kate A.. University of Minnesota; Estados Unidos

Fil: Garibaldi, Lucas Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. - Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentina

Fil: Polasky, Stephen. University of Minnesota; Estados Unidos

Fil: Aumeeruddy Thomas, Yildiz. Université Montpellier II; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia

Fil: Brancalion, Pedro H. S.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil

Fil: DeClerck, Fabrice. Alliance of Bioversity International; Francia

Fil: Jacob, Ute. University of Oldenburg; Alemania

Fil: Mastrangelo, Matias Enrique. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Laboratorio de Agroecología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina

Fil: Nkongolo, Nsalambi V.. Navajo Technical University; Estados Unidos. Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Yangambi; República del Congo

Fil: Palang, Hannes. Tallinn University; Estonia

Fil: Pérez Méndez, Néstor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural. - Universidad Nacional de Rio Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentina

Fil: Shannon, Lynne J.. University of Cape Town; Sudáfrica

Fil: Shrestha, Uttam Babu. Global Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies; Nepal

Fil: Strombom, Evelyn. University of Minnesota; Estados Unidos

Fil: Verma, Madhu. World Resources Institute; India