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<font 12.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>Protection against avalanches mudslides and rock-falls</font>

<font 12.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>This regulating ES belongs in CICES to the division ‘mediation of flows’ the group ‘mass flows’ and the class ‘Mass stabilisation and control of erosion rates’. In earlier classification systems and frameworks such as the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment and the TEEB study it mainly belonged to the larger regulating service group ‘natural hazard mitigation’.</font>

Ecosystems play a crucial role in regulating the effects of extreme natural events on human systems. They influence both the probability and strength of natural hazards and their impacts^fckgL1. In the case of this specific ES the ecosystem counteracts the occurrence of avalanches, mudslides and rock falls, mainly through vegetation cover. In the European Alps this ecosystem function is strongly connected with the already quite established concept of 'Protection Forest'.