3.3. Ecosystems and human well-being
The abundance or the quality of natural resources does not constitute a guarantee of improved well-being. This paradox constitutes the ‘‘resource curse’’, i.e. the paradox that natural resource-rich countries tend to have lower economic growth and development than less well
endowed countries [71,72]. The contribution of ecosystems and biodiversity to human well-being is therefore contingent on the ability of societies to value services. The link between ecosystems and human well-being therefore depends on the potential services that societies know how to obtain from ecosystems, but also on their capability to do without, and to rely on alternative resources (including human creativity). This complex relation can be represented in three steps:identification of ecosystem ecological functions; description of the beneficial uses that societies get from these ecosystems; analysis of the economic value of these services,
according to available alternatives.In recent publications [50,73] the concept of beneficial
use is split between a biophysical description of the service and, secondly, an analysis of how that service benefits to humans. This benefit is finally valued in economic terms (Fig. 1).
An important point here is to understand that there is no simple link or proportionality between the biophysical phenomenon and the social value. Between these two levels of observation, and analysis, several parameters strongly influence the final results, among which: available
technologies, cultural preferences and, as emphasized above, freedom of choice, which determines in fact the final well-being that humans will be able, or not, to draw from the actual ecosystems.