33 - Weakening of services provided by nature

✏️ This explanation does not yet exist in your language… Just click here or send an email to fdn.memo@marc-antoinea.fr and suggest your translation!

4
Causes

Weakening of services provided by nature

500,000 tonnes of microplastics are dumped into the oceans each year. A majority of these microparticles come from the washing of synthetic textiles (60% of the composition of our clothes). This pollution, which is increasing sharply, affects “at least 267 species, including 86% of sea turtles, 44% of seabirds and 43% of marine mammals. »


Weakening of services provided by nature

“Less abundant and/or unhealthy biodiversity affects the effectiveness of the services provided by nature. The services provided by nature are innumerable and essential to human life (pollination, creation of arable soil, water purification, regulation of material and energy flows, etc.). "


Weakening of services provided by nature

Ultraviolet rays disrupt the cell divisions of aquatic microorganisms, which has serious consequences for life at the poles.


Weakening of services provided by nature

Climatic hazards can undermine the effectiveness of certain ecosystem services (megafires which destroy biodiversity habitats and which reduce the capacity to absorb CO2, floods which add salt water to groundwater).


2
Consequences

Weakening of services provided by nature

Many medicines are extracted from living organisms. A reduction in this ecosystem service could have impacts on the treatment of certain diseases.


Weakening of services provided by nature

“A decline in pollinating insects can impact agricultural yields (75% of global food production depends on pollinating insects). A decline in corals and plankton can impact fishery resources (fish, crustaceans, molluscs). In Asia, more than a billion people depend on fishing as their primary food resource (animal protein), particularly in low-income countries.


5
Other possible causes

Weakening of services provided by nature

Fewer forests mean less regulation of the CO2 level in the atmosphere (less carbon storage, and less O2 production in return).


Weakening of services provided by nature

Plankton are at the base of the marine food chain. Fewer plankton means fewer (or smaller) fish.


Weakening of services provided by nature

The ecosystem services at stake here include the storage of CO2 in trees, the loss of biodiversity, climate regulation, pharmacopoeia.


Weakening of services provided by nature

25% of marine biodiversity depends on coral reefs. Fewer corals mean fewer fisheries resources.


Anoxic or hypoxic areas

Weakening of services provided by nature

In January 2018, the international working group “Global ocean oxygen network” indicated in the journal Science that the proportion of high seas areas devoid of all oxygen has more than quadrupled in 50 years (150 to 450 dead zones identified). Low oxygenated sites located near the coasts (including estuaries) have increased tenfold since 1950. These areas have increasingly significant impacts on fishing and ecosystems. Fish can escape from these areas (but rapid loss of consciousness possible). On the other hand, molluscs and crustaceans have too low a movement speed and die quickly.