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DEFINITION
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) http://www.teebweb.org/resources/ecosystem-services/ characterizes Provisioning Services as ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems They include food, water and other resources.
According to TEEB we can categorize Provisioning Services into 4 groups such as:
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.
Raw materials: Ecosystems provide a great diversity of materials for construction and fuel including wood, biofuels and plant oils that are directly derived from wild and cultivated plant species.
Fresh water: Ecosystems play a vital role in the global hydrological cycle, as they regulate the flow and purification of water. Vegetation and forests influence the quantity of water available locally.
Medicinal resources: Ecosystems and biodiversity provide many plants used as traditional medicines as well as providing the raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. All ecosystems are a potential source of medicinal resources.
Condition of Provisioning Services pursuant to [Millennium Ecosystem Assessment]
The flows of provisioning services do not accurately reflect their condition, since a given flow may or may not be sustainable over the long term. The flow is typically measured in terms of biophysical production, such as kilograms of maize per hectare or tons of tuna landings. The provisioning of ecological goods such as food, fuelwood, or fiber, depends both on the flow and the “stock” of the good, just as is the case with manufactured goods. (In economics, “stock” refers to the total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant;
In this section, we use “stock” in its economic sense to show how considerations of ecosystem goods can be incorporated into the economic framework of stocks and flows.) The quantity of goods sold by a manufacturer (the flow), for example, is an incomplete measure of a factory’s productivity, since it could come from either the production of new goods or the depletion of built-up stocks. Indeed, production of biological resources has often been maintained in the short term at a higher rate than its sustainable yield. In the long term, the production of overharvested resources will fall.