Bird watching, also known as birding, is a popular hobby around the world that involves observing and identifying wild birds in their natural habitats. There has been some debate among ecologists and conservationists about whether recreational activities like bird watching should be considered ecosystem services, which are the benefits that humans derive from nature.
What are ecosystem services?
Ecosystem services are the many ways that natural ecosystems support and provide value to human life. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment published in 2005 categorized ecosystem services into four broad categories:
- Provisioning services: Products obtained from ecosystems such as food, fresh water, timber, fibers, and medicines.
- Regulating services: Benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes such as water purification, waste decomposition, climate regulation, and pest control.
- Cultural services: Nonmaterial benefits that people obtain from ecosystems such as spiritual enrichment, intellectual development, recreation, and aesthetic values.
- Supporting services: Services that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services such as soil formation, nutrient cycling, and primary production.
There has been debate among ecologists about whether cultural services like recreation, tourism, and aesthetic appreciation should be considered on par with tangible services like food production and water purification. However, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment established cultural services as a distinct category of ecosystem services to recognize their importance to human well-being.
Birdwatching as a cultural ecosystem service
Bird watching is considered a cultural ecosystem service because it provides recreational, intellectual, and aesthetic benefits that are dependent on healthy bird populations and habitats. As an outdoor recreational activity, bird watching promotes human health and well-being through exercise and time spent immersed in nature. The hobby also represents an important human-nature connection, satisfying intellectual curiosity, spiritual values, and aesthetic appreciation of the natural world.
According to the 2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, there were 45 million bird watchers in the United States age 16 and older. They spent $75 billion dollars on trip and equipment expenditures related to birding and other wildlife watching activities. This demonstrates that birding provides significant economic value in addition to nonmaterial cultural benefits.
How bird watching benefits ecosystems
Although recreational bird watching is not as tangible an ecosystem service as food production or erosion control, it provides distinct benefits back to bird populations and their habitats. Here are some of the key ways bird watching supports ecosystem health:
- Financial contributions – Birders directly support conservation efforts through taxes on birding equipment and contributions to environmental organizations. According to the 2016 survey, birders contributed $4.9 billion to conservation in trip expenditures and donations to conservation organizations.
- Citizen science – Enthusiastic birders participate in citizen science initiatives that provide valuable research data on bird populations and behavior to inform conservation strategies. The Christmas Bird Count began in 1900 and continues annually.
- Ecotourism – Birding destinations attract substantial tourism revenue that may be allocated to protecting habitats. Revenue potential creates incentives for sustainable practices.
- Education and advocacy – Birding fosters a deeper personal connection to nature that promotes conservation-oriented attitudes and behaviors. Birders share knowledge and advocate for bird and habitat conservation in their communities.
While individual birders pursue the activity for recreational aims, the popularity of birding creates an engaged network of citizens who actively support ecosystem conservation in numerous ways.
Challenges to considering birding an ecosystem service
There are some arguments against classifying recreational bird watching as an ecosystem service on the same level of tangible services that provide for basic human needs:
- Anthropocentric bias – Ecosystem services are inherently anthropocentric, focused on benefits to humans. However, ecosystems have intrinsic value apart from direct human use.
- Double counting – Birding depends on the provisioning service of healthy bird populations. Therefore, it could be redundant to count both bird habitat and birding recreation as separate services.
- Lower priority – In assessing trade-offs, food, water, and shelter should take priority over recreation and aesthetics. There could be justification to degrade habitat for subsistence needs, even if it reduces birding opportunities.
These arguments suggest ecosystem services like birding should be considered of secondary importance when making environmental management decisions. However, others counter that cultural services provide significant human welfare benefits not captured by provisioning services alone.
Valuing cultural ecosystem services
To assign appropriate value to cultural ecosystem services like recreational birding, some key factors to consider include:
- Health benefits – Outdoor recreation provides physical exercise and reduces stress, improving human health.
- Economic activity – Birding generates significant revenue, employment, and tax dollars through tourism, equipment sales, and associated industries.
- Non-use value – People appreciate existence of birds for moral reasons, even if they never directly interact with or observe birds.
- Cultural heritage – Interaction with nature provides meaning, enriches understanding, and connects people to history and traditions.
Quantifying these cultural values is challenging but important to reflect the full value humans derive from ecosystems. Methods like contingent valuation surveys, travel cost models, and choice experiments help assign monetary value to the health, economic, and cultural benefits.
Conclusion
While the ecosystem services concept has limitations, recreational activities like bird watching do provide meaningful benefits that support human welfare and conservation behavior. Birding requires and encourages protection of ecosystems capable of supporting thriving bird populations. The scientific, economic, recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual value people derive from observing birds warrants considering bird watching an important cultural ecosystem service.
Reasonable arguments can be made on both sides of this issue. But in an age of growing human domination of the natural world, any activity that gives people a direct stake in conserving nature provides value worth recognizing and protecting.