Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-26T10:06:50.670Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - The Consequences of Biodiversity Loss for Human Well-Being

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2019

By
Charles Perrings  and
Ann Kinzig
Edited by
Partha Dasgupta ,
Peter Raven  and
Anna McIvor
Partha Dasgupta
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Peter Raven
Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden
Anna McIvor
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Biodiversity is frequently thought of as synonymous with species diversity in wild lands, and biodiversity loss is frequently thought of as synonymous with the extinction of wild species. But biodiversity is much more than species diversity in wild lands, and biodiversity loss is much more than species extinction. Biodiversity is the variety of species used in both the production and consumption of goods and services. Examples include the ornamental plants, birds and animals that people use to enrich their lives, the variety of foods they use to enrich their diet, the mix of biofuels or biofibres used to support productive activities. It includes the genetic diversity of cultivated crops, of crop pests, of wild crop relatives, of weedy species. It includes the range of biotic disease agents that affect human, animal and plant health, and the species used to control disease such as traditional medicinal plants and the plants used as the source of modern pharmaceuticals.

Type
Chapter
Information
Biological Extinction
New Perspectives
 , pp. 285 - 308
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, W. M., Aveling, R., Brockington, D., Dickson, B., Elliott, J., Hutton, J., Roe, D., Vira, B. & Wolmer, W. 2004. Biodiversity conservation and the eradication of poverty. Science, 306(5699): 1146–1149.Google Scholar
Angelsen, A., Jagger, P., Babigumira, R., Belcher, B., Hogarth, N. J., Bauch, S., Börner, J., Smith-Hall, C. & Wunder, S. 2014. Environmental income and rural livelihoods: A global-comparative analysis. World Development, 64: S12–S28.Google Scholar
Baumgärtner, S. 2007. The insurance value of biodiversity in the provision of ecosystem services. Natural Resources Modeling, 20: 87–127.Google Scholar
Berkes, F., Colding, J. & Folke, C. 2000. Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecological Applications, 10(5): 1251–1262.Google Scholar
Beutels, P., Jia, N., Zhou, Q., Smith, R., Cao, W. & de Vlas, S. 2009. The economic impact of SARS in Beijing, China. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 14(November): 85–91.Google Scholar
Bruinsma, J. 2009. By how much do land, water and crop yields need to increase by 2050? Paper presented at How to Feed the World in 2050, Rome.Google Scholar
Cassey, P., Blackburn, T. M., Russel, G. J., Jones, K. E. & Lockwood, J. L. 2004. Influences on the transport and establishment of exotic bird species: An analysis of the parrots (Psittaciformes) of the world. Global Change Biology, 10: 417–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chavas, J.-P. a. M. D. 2002. On the valuation of uncertainty in welfare analysis. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 84(1): 23–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cleaver, F. 2005. The inequality of social capital and the reproduction of chronic poverty. World Development, 33(6): 893–906.Google Scholar
Collier, P. 2002. Social capital and poverty: A microeconomic perspective. In Puttnam, R., Grootaert, C. & Van Bastelaer, T. (Eds.), The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment: 19–41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511492600.003.Google Scholar
Costello, C., Springborn, M., McAusland, C. & Solow, A. 2007. Unintended biological invasions: Does risk vary by trading partner? Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 54(3): 262–276.Google Scholar
Crane, P. & Kinzig, A. 2005. Nature in the metropolis. Science, 308(5726): 1225.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2001. Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2007. Nature and the economy. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44: 475–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daszak, P., Cunningham, A. A. & Hyatt, A. D. 2000. Wildlife ecology: Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife – threats to biodiversity and human health. Science, 287(5452): 443–449.Google Scholar
Firbank, L. G., Petit, S., Smart, S., Blain, A. & Fuller, R. J. 2008. Assessing the impacts of agricultural intensification on biodiversity: A British perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 363(1492): 777–787.Google Scholar
Fisher, I. 1930. The Theory of Interest. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Foley, J. A. 2005. Global consequences of land use. Science, 309: 570–574.Google Scholar
Foley, J. A., Ramankutty, N., Brauman, K. A., Cassidy, E. S., Gerber, J. S., Johnston, M., Mueller, N. D., O’Connell, C., Ray, D. K., West, P. C., Balzer, C., Bennett, E. M., Carpenter, S. R., Hill, J., Monfreda, C., Polasky, S., Rockström, J., Sheehan, J., Siebert, S., Tilman, D. & Zaks, D. P. M. 2011. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature, 478(7369): 337–342.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization. 2010. The Second Report on the State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: FAO.Google Scholar
Gates, B. 2015. The next epidemic – lessons from Ebola. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(15): 1381–1384.Google Scholar
Geiger, F., Bengtsson, J., Berendse, F., Weisser, W. W., Emmerson, M., Morales, M. B., Ceryngier, P., Liira, J., Tscharntke, T., Winqvist, C., Eggers, S., Bommarco, R., Pärt, T., Bretagnolle, V., Plantegenest, M., Clement, L. W., Dennis, C., Palmer, C., Oñate, J. J., Guerrero, I., Hawro, V., Aavik, T., Thies, C., Flohre, A., Hänke, S., Fischer, C., Goedhart, P. W. & Inchausti, P. 2010. Persistent negative effects of pesticides on biodiversity and biological control potential on European farmland. Basic and Applied Ecology, 11(2): 97–105.Google Scholar
Godfray, H. C. J., Beddington, J. R., Crute, I. R., Haddad, L., Lawrence, D., Muir, J. F., Pretty, J., Robinson, S., Thomas, S. M. & Toulmin, C. 2010. Food security: The challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science, 327(5967): 812–818.Google Scholar
Goeschl, T. & Swanson, T. 2003. Pests, plagues, and patents. Journal of the European Economic Association, 1(2–3): 561–575.Google Scholar
Gupta, A. G., Moyer, C. A. & Stern, D. T. 2005. The economic impact of quarantine: SARS in Toronto as a case study. Journal of Infection, 50(5): 386–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heal, G. M., Barbier, E. B., Boyle, K. J., Covich, A. P., Gloss, S. P., Hershner, C. H., Hoehn, J. P., Pringle, C. M., Polasky, S., Segerson, K. & Shrader-Frechette, K. 2005. Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better Environmental Decision Making. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, M., Hilton-Taylor, C., Angulo, A., Böhm, M., Brooks, T. M., Butchart, S. H. M., Carpenter, K. E., Chanson, J., Collen, B., Cox, N. A., Darwall, W. R. T., Dulvy, N. K., Harrison, L. R., Katariya, V., Pollock, C. M., Quader, S., Richman, N. I., Rodrigues, A. S. L., Tognelli, M. F., Vié, J.-C., Aguiar, J. M., Allen, D. J., Allen, G. R., Amori, G., Ananjeva, N. B., Andreone, F., Andrew, P., Ortiz, A. L. A., Baillie, J. E. M., Baldi, R., Bell, B. D., Biju, S. D., Bird, J. P., Black-Decima, P., Blanc, J. J., Bolaños, F., Bolivar -G., W., Burfield, I. J., Burton, J. A., Capper, D. R., Castro, F., Catullo, G., Cavanagh, R. D., Channing, A., Chao, N. L., Chenery, A. M., Chiozza, F., Clausnitzer, V., Collar, N. J., Collett, L. C., Collette, B. B., Fernandez, C. F. C., Craig, M. T., Crosby, M. J., Cumberlidge, N., Cuttelod, A., Derocher, A. E., Diesmos, A. C., Donaldson, J. S., Duckworth, J. W., Dutson, G., Dutta, S. K., Emslie, R. H., Farjon, A., Fowler, S., Freyhof, J., Garshelis, D. L., Gerlach, J., Gower, D. J., Grant, T. D., Hammerson, G. A., Harris, R. B., Heaney, L. R., Hedges, S. B., Hero, J.-M., Hughes, B., Hussain, S. A., Icochea M., J., Inger, R. F., Ishii, N., Iskandar, D. T., Jenkins, R. K. B., Kaneko, Y., Kottelat, M., Kovacs, K. M., Kuzmin, S. L., La Marca, E., Lamoreux, J. F., Lau, M. W. N., Lavilla, E. O., Leus, K., Lewison, R. L., Lichtenstein, G., Livingstone, S. R., Lukoschek, V., Mallon, D. P., McGowan, P. J. K., McIvor, A., Moehlman, P. D., Molur, S., Alonso, A. M. o., Musick, J. A., Nowell, K., Nussbaum, R. A., Olech, W., Orlov, N. L., Papenfuss, T. J., Parra-Olea, G., Perrin, W. F., Polidoro, B. A., Pourkazemi, M., Racey, P. A., Ragle, J. S., Ram, M., Rathbun, G., Reynolds, R. P., Rhodin, A. G. J., Richards, S. J., Rodriguez, L. O., Ron, S. R., Rondinini, C., Rylands, A. B., Sadovy de Mitcheson, Y., Sanciangco, J. C., Sanders, K. L., Santos-Barrera, G., Schipper, J., Self-Sullivan, C., Shi, Y., Shoemaker, A., Short, F. T., Sillero-Zubiri, C., Silvano, D. b. L., Smith, K. G., Smith, A. T., Snoeks, J., Stattersfield, A. J., Symes, A. J., Taber, A. B., Talukdar, B. K., Temple, H. J., Timmins, R., Tobias, J. A., Tsytsulina, K., Tweddle, D., Ubeda, C., Valenti, S. V., Paul van Dijk, P., Veiga, L. M., Veloso, A., Wege, D. C., Wilkinson, M., Williamson, E. A., Xie, F., Young, B. E., Akçakaya, H. R., Bennun, L., Blackburn, T. M., Boitani, L., Dublin, H. T., da Fonseca, G. A. B., Gascon, C., Lacher, T. E., Mace, G. M., Mainka, S. A., McNeely, J. A., Mittermeier, R. A., Reid, G. M., Rodriguez, J. P., Rosenberg, A. A., Samways, M. J., Smart, J., Stein, B. A. & Stuart, S. N. 2010. The impact of conservation on the status of the world’s vertebrates. Science, 330(6010): 1503–1509.Google Scholar
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for Development. 2008. Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Kinzig, A. P., Pacala, S. & Tilman, D. (Eds.). 2002. Functional Consequences of Biodiversity: Empirical Progress and Theoretical Extensions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kinzig, A. P., Perrings, C., Chapin, F. S., III, Polasky, S., Smith, V. K., Tilman, D. & Turner, B. L., II. 2011. Sustainability: Paying for ecosystem services–promise and peril. Science, 334(6056): 603–604.Google Scholar
Kremen, C., Williams, N. M. & Thorp, R. W. 2002. Crop pollination from native bees at risk from agricultural intensification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 99(26): 16812–16816.Google Scholar
Levine, J. M., Vila, M., D’Antonio, C. M., Dukes, J. S., Grigulis, K. & Lavorel, S. 2003. Mechanisms underlying the impacts of exotic plant invasions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 270(1517): 775–781.Google Scholar
Loreau, M., Naeem, S. & Inchausti, P. 2002. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Synthesis and Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Markandya, A. 2001. Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development Implications for the Management of Natural Capital. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Maxted, N. & Kell, S. P. 2009. Establishment of a Global Network for the In Situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives: Status and Needs. Rome: FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005a. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Biodiversity Synthesis. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005b. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: General Synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Murray, C. J. L. & Lopez, A. D. 1997. Global mortality, disability, and the contribution of risk factors: Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet, 349: 1436–1442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myers, N. 1988. Threatened biotas: ‘Hot spots’ in tropical forests. Environmentalist, 8(3): 187–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naeem, S. 1998. Species redundancy and ecosystem reliability. Conservation Biology, 12: 39–45.Google Scholar
Naeem, S., Bunker, D., Hector, A., Loreau, M. & Perrings, C. (Eds.). 2009. Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Human Wellbeing: An Ecological and Economic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Perrings, C. 1989. An optimal path to extinction – poverty and resource degradation in the open agrarian economy. Journal of Development Economics, 30(1): 1–24.Google Scholar
Perrings, C. 2014. Our Uncommon Heritage: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Perrings, C. & Halkos, G. 2015. Agriculture and the threat to biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental Research Letters, 10(9): 095015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pimentel, D., McNair, S., Janecka, S., Wightman, J., Simmonds, C., O’Connell, C., Wong, E., Russel, L., Zern, C., Aquino, T. & Tsomondo, T. 2001. Economic and environmental threats of alien plant, animal and microbe invasions. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 84: 1–20.Google Scholar
Potts, S. G., Biesmeijer, J. C., Kremen, C., Neumann, P., Schweiger, O. & Kunin, W. E. 2010. Global pollinator declines: Trends, impacts and drivers. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 25(6): 345–353.Google Scholar
Preece, J. 2006. Widening participation for social justice: Poverty and access to education. In Oduaran, A. & Bhola, H. S. (Eds.), Widening Access to Education as Social Justice: 113–126. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.Google Scholar
Pretty, J., Toulmin, C. & Williams, S. 2011. Sustainable intensification in African agriculture. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 9(1): 5–24.Google Scholar
Quaas, M. & Baumgärtner, S. 2007. Natural vs. financial insurance in the management of public good ecosystems. Ecological Economics, 65(2): 397–406.Google Scholar
Sachs, J. D., Baillie, J. E. M., Sutherland, W. J., Armsworth, P. R., Ash, N., Beddington, J., Blackburn, T. M., Collen, B., Gardiner, B., Gaston, K. J., Godfray, H. C. J., Green, R. E., Harvey, P. H., House, B., Knapp, S., Kumpel, N. F., Macdonald, D. W., Mace, G. M., Mallet, J., Matthews, A., May, R. M., Petchey, O., Purvis, A., Roe, D., Safi, K., Turner, K., Walpole, M., Watson, R. & Jones, K. E. 2009. Biodiversity conservation and the Millennium Development Goals. Science, 325(5947): 1502–1503.Google Scholar
Schelling, T. C. 1997. The cost of combating global warming: Facing the tradeoffs. Foreign Affairs, 76(6): 8–14.Google Scholar
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 2010. Global Biodiversity Outlook 3. Montréal: Convention on Biological Diversity.Google Scholar
Semmens, B. X., Buhle, E. R., Salomon, A. K. & Pattengill-Semmens, C. V. 2004. A hotspot of non-native marine fishes: Evidence for the aquarium trade as an invasion pathway. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 266: 239–244.Google Scholar
Simpson, R. D., Sedjo, R. A. & Reid, J. W. 1996. Valuing biodiversity for use in pharmaceutical research. Journal of Political Economy, 104(1): 163–185.Google Scholar
Smale, M., Hazell, P., Hodgkin, T. & Fowler, C. 2008. Do we have an adequate global strategy for securing the biodiversity of major food crops? Agrobiodiversity Conservation and Economic Development, 10: 40.Google Scholar
Thébault, E. & Loreau, M. 2006. The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in food webs. Ecological Research, 21: 17–25.Google Scholar
UNEP-WCMC and IUCN. 2016. Protected Planet Report 2016. Cambridge: UNEP-WCMC and IUCN.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1993. Convention on Biological Diversity. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
van de Wouw, M., Kik, C., van Hintum, T., van Treuren, R. & Visser, B. 2010. Genetic erosion in crops: Concept, research results and challenges. Plant Genetic Resources, 8(1): 1–15.Google Scholar
WCED. 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wells, M. P., McShane, T. O., Dublin, H. T., O’Connor, S. & Redford, K. H. 2004. The future of integrated conservation and development projects: Building on what works. In McShane, T. O. & Wells, M. P. (Eds.), Getting Biodiversity Projects to Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and Development: 397–422. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2012. People, Pathogens and Our Planet: The Economics of One Health. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank 2013. World Data Bank: Health Nutrition and Population Statistics, vol. 2013. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
World Bank 2017. Health Expenditure, Total (% of GDP), vol. 2017. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Zhao, Z.-H., Hui, C., He, D.-H. & Li, B.-L. 2015. Effects of agricultural intensification on ability of natural enemies to control aphids. Scientific Reports, 5: 8024.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×