Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services, such as nutrient cycling, that maintain the conditions for life on Earth

The term "ecosystem services" describes the multiple benefits derived by society from ecosystems. These services are many and substantial, underpinning basic human health and survival needs as well as supporting economic activities, the fulfilment of people‟s potential, and enjoyment of life. The essence of the "ecosystems approach" – management of whole ecosystems and their benefits using the framework of ecosystem services – is to consider these multiple benefits simultaneously, so that the realisation of one benefit is not achieved at cost to other benefits and their beneficiaries.

The ecosystem services concept recognises and potentially provides a means to quantify benefits to society, allowing ecosystems to be brought into planning and other decision-making processes, linking ecological with social and economic considerations.

Ecosystems and their services in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) are not only instrumental for improving well-being, but are also constitutive elements of well-being.