Biodiversity forms the building blocks of a healthy natural environment. This environment is our life-support system on earth, and provides us with our food, clean water and clean air.
These are among the services the natural environment provides us with. We can look at these and other services as belonging to four different types:-
Support – including the oxygen production, nutrient cycling, and soil formation, which underpin the provision of the other ‘services’
Regulation – including climate regulation, flood protection and water purification.
Provision – providing us with food, fuel, fibre, and water.
Cultural services – our enjoyment of wildlife and the countryside, education, recreation, inspiration and natural beauty.
To discover more about what biodiversity does for you take a look at our interactive Variety of Life on Earth poster – 2.8mb.