Life-support value of ecosystems: a case study of the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

Ecosystems support the economy with necessary environmental goods and services. In the Baltic Sea Region the accumulated pressure from industries, agriculture and fisheries has reduced this support. Water and soil quality has decreased, forests and the quality of commercial fish species have been degraded, and marine top predator populations have diminished. Humans have through predation, pollution and competition replaced the seals as the major top consumers of the Baltic Sea food-web. Our estimates indicate that up to 85% of the total primary production of the Baltic Sea nowadays supports the fish catches. In the Baltic Sea Region the natural capital is increasingly replacing man-made capital as the limiting factor for socio-economic development. In order to attain sustainable development socio-economic activities and their feed-back flows must be adapted to the capacity of the life-supporting ecosystems. The challenge for the future of the whole region is to fit the industrial societies into ecosystem processes and functions. Input management of production systems and ecological engineering are important tools for this purpose.