From a human perspective the functioning of
ecosystems is decisive not only because of the
provision of natural resources and the capacity for
assimilation of pollution, but even more so because
they provide a variety of ecological services,
including life-support services, which humanity
cannot do without. Examples are the maintenance
of the composition of the atmosphere, amelioration
of climate, operation of the hydrological cycle,
recycling of nutrients, generation of soils, and
pollination of crops. Therefore, the protection of
the resilience of critical ecosystems must be an
important element in any sustainability strategy.
Unfortunately, the increasing scale of economic
activity endangers the resilience of important systems
and, in addition, the scale-induced increase in
interconnectedness and complexity of ecological and
economic systems implies that the future evolution
of ecosystems has become even more unpredictable
than before. The approach thus justifies the precautionary
principle and calls for more research into the
functioning of ecological–economic systems, including
both macro-oriented operationalizations and
micro-oriented studies of more restricted systems—
the field of management of ecosystems.