Ecosystems

Ecosystems provide us with a variety of goods and services upon which we all depend, including food, fuel, clean water and protection from natural hazards. Unfortunately, ecosystems are under increasing pressure from unsustainable use and other threats such as pollution and land conversion. IUCN aims to address this loss by using the ‘Ecosystem Approach’ to conservation. This places human needs at the core of the integrated management of land, water and living resources, and aims to optimize the use of an ecosystem without damaging it.
Between 2001 and 2005, IUCN took part in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which provided comprehensive information on the condition of, and trends in, the world’s ecosystems, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably.