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In most countries, the marketed values of ecosystems associated with timber and fuelwood production are less than one third of the total economic value, including non-marketed values such as carbon [..]
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For all developing countries over the period 1961–99, expansion of harvested land contributed only 29% to growth in crop production versus the contribution of increases in yields, which amounted to [..]
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While traditional natural resource sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and fisheries are still important in industrial-country economies, the relative economic and political significance of other [..]
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Timber is harvested from forests and plantations and used for a variety of building, manufacturing, fuel, and other needs. Forests (providing fuelwood and charcoal), agricultural crops, and manure all [..]
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The time scale of change refers to the time required for the effects of a perturbation of a process to be expressed. Inertia refers to the delay or slowness in the response of a system to factors [..]
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From the late 1950s, offshore bottom trawlers began exploiting the deeper part of the stock, leading to a large catch increase and a strong decline in the underlying biomass. Internationally agreed [..]
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Nutrient loading is projected to become an increasingly severe problem, particularly in developing countries. Nutrient loading already has major adverse effects on freshwater ecosystems and coastal [..]
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While the peculiarities of individual pollutants, rivers, and governance define the specific character of water pollution, the general patterns observed for nitrogen are representative of [..]
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Radiative forcing caused by changes in atmospheric composition, alteration in land surface reflectance (albedo), and variation in the output of the sun for the year 2000 relative to conditions in [..]
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It is not possible to estimate accurately the extent of different biomes prior to significant human impact, but it is possible to determine the “potential” area of biomes based on soil and climatic [..]
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A trophic level of an organism is its position in a food chain. Levels are numbered according to how far particular organisms are along the chain from the primary producers, to herbivores, to [..]
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In each case, the net benefits from the more sustainably managed ecosystem are greater than those from the converted ecosystem, even though the private (market) benefits would be greater from the [..]
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Fishing production dramatically increase through the century peaking in late 1980s. At this time there were major declines in several fish populations in different areas of the world. The catch [..]
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Atmospheric deposition currently accounts for roughly 12% of the reactive nitrogen entering terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems globally, although in some regions, atmospheric deposition [..]
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More land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950 than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850. Cultivated systems (areas where at least 30% of the landscape is in croplands,shifting [..]
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Forest systems are lands dominated by trees; they are often used for timber, fuelwood, and non-wood forest products. The map shows areas with a canopy cover of at least 40% by woody plants taller than [..]
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Food production more than doubled (an increase of over 160%) from 1961 to 2003. Over this period, production of cereals—the major energy component of human diets—has increased almost two and a half [..]
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Average annual percentage growth rate of GDP at market prices based on constant local currency. Dollar figures for GDP are converted from domestic currencies using 1995 official exchange rates. GDP is [..]
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Number of new records of established non-native invertebrate and algal species reported in marine waters of North America, shown by date of first record, and number of new records of non-native marine [..]
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Millennium Assessment systems with the lowest net primary productivity and lowest GDP tended to have the highest population growth rates between 1990 and 2000. Urban, inland water, and marine systems [..]
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Inland water systems are permanent water bodies inland from the coastal zone and areas whose properties and use are dominated by the permanent, seasonal, or intermittent occurrence of flooded [..]
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There are many linkages between categories of ecosystem services and components of human well-being. They includes indications of the extent to which it is possible for socioeconomic factors to [..]
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The MA framework was applied in a wide range of assessments at multiple scales. Particularly for the more local assessments, the framework needed to be adapted to better reflect the needs and concerns [..]
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In the case of forest cover change, the studies refer to the period 1980–2000 and are based on national statistics, remote sensing, and, to a limited degree, expert opinion. In the case of land cover [..]
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The cell color indicates impact of each driver on biodiversity in each type of ecosystem over the past 50–100 years. High impact means that over the last century the particular driver has [..]
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Marine systems are the world’s oceans. For mapping purposes, the map shows ocean areas where the depth is greater than 50 meters. Global fishery catches from marine systems peaked in the late 1980s [..]
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Eighteen sub-global assessments were approved as components of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). These were not designed to provide a scientific sample of any feature of ecosystems or human [..]
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International demand for timber may lead to a regional loss of forest cover, which increases flood magnitude along a local stretch of a river. Similarly, the interactions can take place across [..]
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Order from Strength, which focuses on reactive policies in a regionalized world, has the least favorable outcomes for human well-being, as the global distribution of ecosystem services and human [..]
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Positive values for national savings (expressed as a percent of gross national income) reflect a gain in wealth for a nation. Standard measures do not incorporate investments in human capital (in [..]
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100% degradation means that all the services in the category were degraded in 2050 compared with 2000, while 50% improvement could mean that three out of six services were enhanced and the rest were [..]
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Roughly 17% of all the urban land in the United States is located in the 100-year flood zone. Likewise, in Japan about 50% of the population lives on floodplains, which cover only 10% of the land [..]
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Within industrial countries, the area burned by fires is declining but the number of major fires is increasing. In the United States, for example, the area burned has declined by more than 90% since [..]
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Food security is likely to remain out of reach for many people. Child malnutrition will be difficult to eradicate even by 2050 (low to medium certainty) and is projected to increase in some regions in [..]
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Average annual percentage growth rate of GDP per capita at market prices based on constant local currency. Dollar figures for GDP are converted from domestic currencies using 1995 official exchange [..]
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Access to improved drinking water is estimated by the percentage of the population using the following drinking water sources: household connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected dug well, [..]
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Access to improved sanitation is estimated by the percentage of the population using the following sanitation facilities: connection to a public sewer, connection to a septic system, pour-flush [..]
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The range of the natural rate of bacterial nitrogen fixation in natural terrestrial ecosystems (excluding fixation in agroecosystems) is shown for comparison. Human activity now produces approximately [..]
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Over the past 40 years, globally, intensification of cultivated systems has been the primary source (almost 80%) of increased output. But some countries, predominantly found in sub-Saharan Africa, [..]
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Comparisons with the rate at which species have disappeared from the planet over a long period of Earth’s history indicate that humans have already increased extinctions levels dramatically. [..]
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The global average surface temperature has increased over the 20th century by about 0.6 degrees Celsius. This increase in temperature is likely to have been the largest for any century in the last [..]
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The years 1960–2000 have shown a rapid move toward flow stabilization, which has slowed recently in some parts of the world due to the growing social, economic, and environmental concerns surrounding [..]
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The total value of the carbon market for 2003 topped $300 million. And, depending on international regulation, some observers project that it will increase to $10–40 billion by 2010. Markets are also [..]
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Fisheries catches increasingly originate from deep areas. Over the years due to depletion in fish stocks the fishing industry has resorted to fishing at greater depths and increasing the damage to [..]
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The imbalance in long-term water budgets necessitates diversion of surface water or the tapping of groundwater resources. The areas shown with moderate-to-high levels of unsustainable use occur over [..]
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Urban systems are built environments with a high human density. For mapping purposes, the MA uses known human settlements with a population of 5,000 or more, with boundaries delineated by observing [..]
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Current patterns of human use of water are unsustainable. From 5% to possibly 25% of global freshwater use exceeds longterm accessible supplies and is met through engineered water transfers or the [..]
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Some factors (such as global population growth) will begin to decline in importance and others (distribution of people, climate change, and changes to nutrient cycles) will gain more importance in the [..]
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