Human Impact on Freshwater Ecosystem Services: A Global Perspective

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 47; no. 16; pp. 9061 - 9068
• Main Authors: Dodds, Walter K, Perkin, Joshuah S, Gerken, Joseph E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 20.08.2013
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Aquatic ecosystems; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Environmental impact; Fresh Water; Fresh water environment; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Growth rate; Human influences; Humans; Internationality; Population growth; Water Cycle; Wetlands; Human; Environmental policy; Environmental factor; Perturbation; Biodiversity; Degradation; Freshwater environment; Perspective; Greenhouse gas; Water quality; Ecosystem services; Anthropogenic factor; Environment quality
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es4021052

Human environmental change influences freshwaters as well as the regulating, provisioning, and cultural services that ecosystems provide worldwide. Here, we assess the global human impact on the potential value of six freshwater ecosystem services (ES) and estimate the proportion of each used globally (the mean value across all countries is in parentheses): biodiversity (0.37), disturbance regulation (0.24), commodities (0.39), greenhouse gases (0.09), water availability (0.10), and water quality (0.33). We also created a composite index of the impact. Using different valuation schemes, we found that humans have used potential global freshwater ES scaled by a relative value of roughly 4–20%, with a median of 16%. All countries use a considerable amount of the potential ES value, invalidating the idea that wealthier countries have less impact on their ES once they have developed. The data suggest that humans have diminished the potential ES provided by freshwaters across the globe and that factors associated with high population growth rates are related to the overall degradation.