Page 6 - State of Biodiversity 2019-2020

1. Ecosystem Services
Provided by Durban’s Natural Environment
Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, is the term used to describe the variety of life found on Earth and all of the natural processes that underpin this biodiversity. This includes all species (including humans), habitats and ecosystems and the connections between these.
It is known that biodiversity provides us with essential ecosystem services. These are the benefits provided by healthy ecosystems to all living organisms. There is growing recognition of the value of ecosystem services to human well-being in terms of health, social, cultural and economic needs (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The value of ecosystem services to human well- being in terms of health, social, cultural and economic needs
D
R
E
O
D
U
O
I
O
O
N
F
T
R
R
e.g. fish, crops and fruit
removal and breakdown of excess nutrients in wetlands, detoxification of air pollution by vegetation
eco-tourism, sports, fishing, swimming
aesthetic, educational, spiritual and scientific use
2 STATE OF BIODIVERSITY REPORT 2019/2020
C
U
P
E
T
C
A
T
S
M
L
T
L
E
A
N
T
U
W
A
T
N
E
C
O
E
A
T
R
R
I