Media
• MA In the News

---

Humans have done more to alter the earth's ecosystems in the past 50 years than any other time in history. Is there anything we can do to protect our natural resources and the essential benefits they provide to future generations?

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a groundbreaking five-volume report published in 2006, answers that question and more.

In 2000, the United Nations brought together a consortium of governments, non-profit groups, international agencies, universities, and businesses – more than 1,360 experts in 95 countries – to conduct a global assessment of the Earth's ecosystems and the services they provide. Natural systems – referred to by scientists as "ecosystems" – are ecological environments that include the climate, oceans, forests, biodiversity and living and non-living organisms. Healthy ecosystems supply us with such life-giving services as shelter, fresh air, clean water, fertile soil, food and forest products, and recreation. The MA, more than any other study before it, directly links the health of our natural systems to human health, prosperity, and security. The MA reveals that most of the earth's natural systems are in a state of decline, and that future generations will find it more and more difficult to maintain their health and well-being because essential natural resources, like food and water, will become costly or scarce.   The MA was designed to correct that by offering a scientific basis for action, with a set of recommendations, solutions, and policy responses aimed at sustainably preserving ecosystem services now and for future generations.

To help synthesize the volume of information within the MA, Island Press developed an abridged capsule based on the study's key findings, and made it available to the public for free. It's called the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, A Toolkit for Understanding and Action: Protecting Nature's Services. Protecting Ourselves. It summarizes the report, and offers examples of how people around the world have used the MA to protect our natural systems. It also describes what we can do now to safeguard those services for the health and enjoyment of current and future generations.     

The MA has already been distributed to thousands of people and organizations around the world in an effort to move the MA from ideas to practice.

We urge you to forward this toolkit to your colleagues and partners.  And we hope to collaborate with you on how you might institute the lessons of the MA in your community, organization, country, or agency.  

You can further help by visiting the following pages to:
•    download your copy of the toolkit.
•    purchase the full multi-volume MA at the Island Press bookstore.
•    purchase the synthesis MA report at the Island Press bookstore.
•    go to the official Millennium Ecosystem Assessment website.
•    read articles and press coverage of the MA.

 

How is Island Press helping to make the MA real?

Island Press is working with organizations, communities, universities, agencies, and countries to show how the MA applies to them, and how its lessons can be tangibly implemented and result in better information and increased returns.

First, we are increasing awareness of the MA through by creating informational tools that distill the report's contents into manageable solutions. Our work includes membership letters, op-eds, events, conferences, toolkits, and case studies.

Second, we are seeking and creating opportunities to implement the MA's policy framework to through consulting work, partnerships, and collaborations.  We have already taken ecosystem services directly to policymakers and decision makers at the local, state, national, and international level. We have provided customized recommendations for entities looking to incorporate the MA and ecosystem services more fully in their operations. We have also used the MA's network of experts to produce programs that are fully responsive to individual focuses and needs.  

To learn more about how our programs work or to explore potential collaborations, please contact Jaime Jennings, Senior Publicist at 202-232-7933 x44 or press@islandpress.org.