Why It Matters to You

Biodiversity loss is not an abstract environmental concern. It is a direct threat to human well-being, because functioning ecosystems quietly do work we would otherwise pay for:

• Three-quarters of global food crops depend on animal pollination
• Birds and bats provide natural pest control worth billions to agriculture
• Wetlands filter water more cheaply than treatment plants
• Coastal ecosystems blunt storms more effectively than seawalls

The economic value of these services has been estimated at 125 to 145 trillion dollars annually — roughly double global GDP. Today, functioning ecosystems provide them for free.