Chapter 8 Livelihoods: Linking Livelihoods and Ecosystems for Enhanced Disaster Management

Abstract

Human beings are inseparable from the environment because of their dependence on ecosystems and their services (Schroter, 2009). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) identifies ecosystem services as vital links between humans and ecosystems because these services are essential for human well-being, especially in terms of security, basic materials for a good life, health, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action. Ecosystem services include flows of materials, energy, and information from natural resources that combined with manufactured and human resources contribute to human well-being (Costanza et al., 1997). These include provisioning services (e.g., food, fresh water, wood and fiber, fuel), regulating services (e.g., climate, flood and disease regulation, water purification), supporting services (e.g., nutrient cycling, soil formation, primary production), and cultural services (e.g., aesthetic, spiritual, educational, and recreational value). The regulating services provided by ecosystems, in particular, are critical for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Ecosystems primarily affect both the probability and the severity of events and modulate the effects of extreme events. For example, soils store large amounts of water, facilitate transfer of surface water to groundwater, and prevent or reduce flooding, and natural buffers reduce hazards by absorbing runoff peaks and storm surges.

Citation

Uy, N., Shaw, R. and Takeuchi, Y. (2012), "Chapter 8 Livelihoods: Linking Livelihoods and Ecosystems for Enhanced Disaster Management", Shaw, R. and Tran, P. (Ed.) Environment Disaster Linkages (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 131-143. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-7262(2012)0000009014