Earth's ecosystems crucial for economies

Earth's ecosystems were crucial for economic, social and spiritual stability, hence better conservation of the planet's life-support systems was essential for fighting poverty, delivering growth and meeting the millennium development goals. This was stated in 'The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report, which was compiled by over 1,300 experts and assisted by United Nation Environment Programme, disclosed sources here on Wednesday.
The value of the world's forests, wetlands, coral reefs and other ecosystems for fighting poverty and delivering sustainable development was spotlighted in the report.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment makes the case that ecosystems and the services they provide were financially significant and that to degrade and damage them was tantamount to economic suicide. It makes it clear that humankind was running down its 'natural capital'.
The report further argues that the loss of natural services, such as the purification of the air and water, protection from disasters and provision of medicines, as a result of damaged and degraded ecosystems have become a significant barrier in the quest to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Wetlands were important habitats for fish, birds and plants. They also serve as natural water pollution filters and water storage facilities while it has high recreational value.
The report claims that an intact wetland, in this case in Canada, was worth US $6,000 a hectare whereas one that has been cleared for intensive agriculture was worth only around US $2,000 a hectare. The same argument was made for intact mangroves versus the same area cleared for shrimp farming; US $1,000 a hectare in Thailand versus about US $200 a hectare when cleared for aquaculture.
The report says the costs of restoring ecosystems could be high, indicating that it was cheaper to conserve them rather than pollute and clean up afterwards. The report also argues that human security was also at risk from ecosystem decline. It argues that the severity and frequency of floods and fires has been aggravated by damage to the earth's natural capital.
For example between 1990 and 1999, floods causing damages totalling US $243 billion killed more than 100,000 people. This is partly blamed on the canalisation of rivers and other natural water bodies.