Biodiversity, Agricultural Development and Valuation of Ecosystem Services

摘要

There have been significant losses ofbiodiversity in the tropics at ecosystem, species and genetic levels as a consequence of agricultural development resulting in simplified landscapes with large areas dominated by crop monocultures. While it is suggested that many ecosystem services can be maintained by a few key species under present environmental conditions, particularly in tree-dominated systems, a larger reservoir of diversity is required to ensure ecosystem resilience to disturbance and futureclimate changes. Decisions on management or changes in land use have economic implications for different goods, services and other needs of stakeholders that biodiversity provides. These values are aggregated in the Total Economic Value (TEV) and discussed in terms of the direct use values (material goods), indirect use-values (ecosystem services), option values (uses in the future of genes, plant pharmaceuticals, etc.) and intrinsic or existence values (moral, religious and aesthetic reasons for conserving biodiversity). It is concluded that biodiversity provides many essential life-support functions and therefore conservation is a sound precautionary principle for an uncertain future.