Intergenerational Inequity: Stealing the Joy and Benefits of Nature From Our Children
Matt W. Hayward, Ninon Meyer, Niko Balkenhol, Chad T. Beranek, Cassandra K. Bugir, Kathleen V. Bushell, Alex Callen, Amy Dickman, Andrea S. Griffin, Peter M. Haswell, Lachlan G. Howell, Christopher A. Jordan, Kaya Klop‐Toker, Remington J. Moll, Robert A. Montgomery, Tutilo Mudumba, Liudmila Osipova, Stéphanie Périquet, Rafael Reyna‐Hurtado, William J. Ripple, Lílian P. Sales, Florian J. Weise, Ryan R. Witt, Peter A. Lindsey
Abstract
The Earth's wildlife and wild places provide essential ecosystem services for current and future generations of humanity, including visual and aural amenity, clean air and water, climate regulation, carbon sequestration, cultural services, energy, disease and pest control, fire regulation, food, habitat provisioning, medicine, land stabilisation, mitigation of natural disasters, pollination, resistance to high winds, and seed dispersal (Costanza et al., 1997). The utilitarian value of biodiversity, assessed via the use-values and ecosystem services that nature provides and upon which humanity's survival depends, does not reflect the entirety of the benefits humanity obtains from nature. There are additional elements of the human experience that are intrinsically connected to nature, in particular our physical, mental, cultural and spiritual well-being (Hough, 2014).