The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was a major assessment of the human impact on the global environment

  • It was called for by the United Nations in 2000, launched in 2001, and was published in 2005

Aims

• The MA gave a scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide

  • It used a variety of environmental indicators to assess these ecosystems, including factors such as biodiversity, pollution, population or climate, as these can be used quantitatively as indicators of sustainability

  • These factors can be used to assess sustainability on a range of scales, from local to global

  • In the case of the MA, this was done on a global scale

• One of the main aims of the MA was to assess how changes to ecosystems have affected, are affecting and will affect human health and wellbeing

• Another main aim of the MA was to assess the scientific basis for action to conserve and use ecosystems sustainably

• In summary, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports evaluated:

  • The current condition of the planet’s ecosystems and the services they provide

  • The importance of these ecosystems to human wellbeing

  • How we can restore, conserve and enhance the sustainable use of these ecosystems

Findings

• The main findings of the MA included:

  • In the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems at a faster rate than at any other time in history, which has led to substantial and largely irreversible losses of global biodiversity

  • These changes have led to substantial overall gains in wellbeing and economic development for many human societies, but at the cost of degrading many ecosystems and the services they provide

  • These changes have substantially increased the poverty experienced by some human societies

  • If not addressed, ecosystem degradation and the problems it causes will substantially reduce the benefits that future generations will be able to obtain from ecosystems

  • It is possible to restore ecosystems but this requires substantial changes in policies and practices