Sanitation and Wastewater Atlas of Africa

The many and varied benefits that humans freely gain from the natural environment and from properly-functioning ecosystems are known as ecosystem services (Redford and Adams 2009). These benefits include tangible products such as food and water, as well as non-tangible but important services such as climate regulation, recreational and cultural benefits. Ecosystems provide essential services that are necessary to maintain optimal ecosystem health. Ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and oxygen production; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). For example, freshwater ecosystems such as rivers and wetlands provide services such as clean drinking water, proteins (from fish/shrimp/crabs), fertile land for flood-recession agriculture and grazing, populations of wildlife for harvest, growing fruits and vegetables, fibre/organic raw materials, medicinal plants, inorganic raw material, flood mitigation and disease control (Forslund et al. 2009). 3.3 Ecosystem Services

Savannah graslands are home to some of the world´s iconic species

Freshwater ecosystems such as rivers provide services such as clean drinking water and food

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SANITATION AND WASTEWATER ATLAS OF AFRICA