Uploaded on 2016-04-18 by jswee

What ecosystem services do you have in and around your living area? Give at least one example for each of the four types of ecosystem services. Make clear in your answer where you can find the ecosystem service and what the ecosystem offers to your living area. To support your answers you are asked to provide one or more images for every example that describe the respective services. **a. Provisioning Services** Fresh Water: Canada is the land of a thousands lakes and our city is surrounded by rivers and canals of all kinds. In my city, which happens to be the Capital City of Canada, there are many controls in place to protect both the water supply and citzens from the harmful effects of industrial pollution, the dumping of toxins into drains and other places that come into contact with water supply. Our city beaches are also closely regulated to ensure the safety of swimmers in the summer months as well. http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/water-and-environment/air-land-and-water/water-environment-strategy ![Mooney's Bay Beach][1] Our city has taken initiatives to help clean and protect our extensive waterways that flow both through and around the city. Our greatest challenge lately (as it has been in the news) is trying to control our aging sewer system from dumping raw sewage into these tributaries during and after a storm. As precipitation increases (we have seen changes) the frequency of overflow problems at several beaches such at Petrie Island and Mooney's Bay. http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/water-and-environment/air-land-and-water/projects-and-status-updates **b. Regulating services** Canada's next natural resource is its lumber. We have the second highest trees per capita in the world (second only to Russia). https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/tree-density/ And so to protect the valuable and renewal resource, we have three forest certification systems : Canadian Standards Association, the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. In Ottawa, we have a Greenbelt of forest that runs directly through the city and is protected. While we are just emerging from winter and it does not look very pretty, these trees in the summer months significantly reduce the Urban Heat Island effect. Eastern Ontario Model Forest (NGO) http://www.eomf.on.ca/ ![City Greenbelt][2] **c. Habitat or Supporting services** Under the category of supporting services, we have a belt of farmland that is within a five minute drive of the city limits, and as a result we also have regulations that protect this land and continue to evaluate the impact of soil problems when connected to local growing initiatives. Environmental Farm Plan Program, EFP (Ontario, Canada) Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association http://www.ontariosoilcrop.org/ ![Kiwan Farms][3] **d. Cultural services** Aboriginal or Indigenous concerns are a big priority in Ottawa right now. There have been a rash of suicides in Aboriginal communities in the last few weeks and so the questions arise about how to sustain life in these very remotes locations. Here in Ottawa, a newly built Wabano centre acts as a focal point for the Aboriginal citizens of Ottawa. They are a weatlh of resources for all citizens and in this time of great need, also provide models of outreach programs to ensure the values of this unique community are supported and encouraged. http://www.wabano.com/ ![Wabano Centre][4] [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14609406652160256.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14609407466750355.jpg [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14609408139918215.jpg [4]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14609408702655406.jpg