Uploaded on 2017-03-11 by Amedeo Ardolino

a. Provisioning services Food: Ecosystems provide the conditions for growing food. Food comes principally from managed agro-ecosystems but marine and freshwater systems or forests also provide food for human consumption. Wild foods from forests are often underestimated. In Antwerp every Saturday and Sunday a very big and full of life temporary market take place right in front the New Theather of the city. Fresh fruit, vegetable, several other food products comes there from the all over the province providing local products to accessible price. One very peculiar food are the mossels and the oyster that you can taste really few hours after they were get hold. b. Regulating services Carbon sequestration and storage: Ecosystems regulate the global climate by storing and sequestering greenhouse gases. As trees and plants grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and effectively lock it away in their tissues. In this way forest ecosystems are carbon stores. Biodiversity also plays an important role by improving the capacity of ecosystems to adapt to the effects of climate change. In Antwerp a very good network of urban parks such as Diamant Stads or Park or Park Spoor Noord ( dislocated in several zones of the city ) and green street along with a policy bike friendly provides to the city a green system able to satisfy the ecological needs of a city not really big but full filled with refineries and other massive factories. c. Habitat or Supporting system Habitats for species: Habitats provide everything that an individual plant or animal needs to survive: food; water; and shelter. Each ecosystem provides different habitats that can be essential for a species’ lifecycle. Migratory species including birds, fish, mammals and insects all depend upon different ecosystems during their movements. The urban matrix of Antwerp as far as it starts to sprawl in the territory leaves the space to a very beautiful natural area called in dutch “Polder”. The Hoboken’s polder is a very big and quite natural zone that provides habitat for several animal species keeping the wild life undisturbed by the human activities that here are just scouting or walking in the nature d. Cultural services Tourism: Ecosystems and biodiversity play an important role for many kinds of tourism which in turn provides considerable economic benefits and is a vital source of income for many countries. In 2008 global earnings from tourism summed up to US$ 944 billion. Cultural and eco-tourism can also educate people about the importance of biological diversity The city of Antwerp is one of the most visited city in Europe, the tourism is taken in high consideration and the city offers several activities and attractions such as museums, churces, zoo, harbour manifestations and many more.