ecosystem services
Ecosystem services provided by high Andean wetlands must be understood in order to ensure their conservation. Therefore, as part of the ...
Today marks the first day of the Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog focal month on Ecosystem Services. For the next four weeks, we will be featuring posts that highlight ecosystem services approaches to agricultural development. Features include the Ecosystem Services...
An important achievement in the process of assessing ecosystem services in ...
Humans benefit from biodiversity rich areas in many ways: aesthetically, culturally, via the provision of services such as climate regulation; regulation of floods, drought, land degradation; soil formation and nutrient cycling; and from the direct harvest of biodiversity for food, fuel, fodder, fibres, and pharmaceuticals. These services are crucial for sustainable economic, social, cultural...
Mountain forests are important for governments to find a balance between productive uses of forests and their protection. To this end, one important step would be to recognize and support mountain people in their role as the primary users and guardian of mountan forests. Mountain people depend on the entire forest ecosystem for their survival. Mountain forest policies should acknowledge the...
Paramos form the upper part, above the treeline, of the Northern Andes. As such, they form a discontinuous belt between the Cordillera of Merida in Venezuela and the Cajamarca area in Peru. Vertically, they cover the upper region of the northern Andes between the upper forest line (about 3400 m altitude) and the permanent snow line (about 5000 m) (Castaño, 2002; Hofstede et al., 2003)
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Mountains occupy 24% of the global land surface area and are home to 12% of the world’s population. Mountains have an ecological, aesthetic, and socioeconomic significance, not only for those living in the mountain areas, but also for people living beyond them. About 10% of the world’s population depends directly on mountain resources for their livelihoods and wellbeing, and an estimated 40%...
Mountains cover one quarter of the Earth's land surface. They present monumental paradoxes: They dominate the landscape and inspire scared devotion and awe; their people are isolated and ignored, they are the font of fantastic wealth; their people live in poverty, they provide water for half of the world's people; their water and soil resources are among the most mismanaged of all their assets...
