The global contribution of vultures towards ecosystem services and sustainability: An experts’ perspective

The ecosystem services framework is essential for biodiversity conservation, emphasizing the role of nature in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study offers a global view on vulture-associated ecosystem services and their SDG contributions, based on insights from 206 experts. The findings reveal global consensus on the importance of vultures in regulation and maintenance services, such as waste recycling and disease control. Cultural services attributed to vultures are moderate and vary regionally. Provisioning services are consistently rated low across all regions. Experts’ views on vultures' key ecosystem roles are often biased toward well-known services and may not align with all scientific evidence. The study emphasizes vultures’ role in achieving SDGs, particularly impacting life on land and health, and calls for reevaluating their contribution to sustainable practices. It stresses the need to customize conservation to regional values and perceptions, recognizing vultures’ critical role in ecological balance, public health, and sustainable development.

The present research was carried out within the framework of the activities of the Spanish Government through the "Maria de Maeztu Center of Excellence" accreditation to IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) (CEX2021-001198). A.S. acknowledges support from the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions individual fellowships (grant no. 101027534). T.C. was supported by MCIN with funding from the European Union-NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and the Government of the Balearic Islands.

With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001198).

Peer reviewed