Ecosystem services in sustainable food systems

The importance of ecosystem services for sustainable food systems is globally recognized, which can be attributed to agriculture being the largest user of land. Currently of the 149 million km2 total global land, an estimated 15 million km2 is used for crop production and 34 million km2 for livestock production. This primary production of food often results in land degradation. Some knowledge of the role that ecosystem services play in food systems is therefore justified. Against this backdrop a concise view on ecosystems and the services that they deliver is given, including how the ecosystems contribute to sustainable development. A thorough discussion with respect to ecosystem services and the cycling processes in food systems is also given, followed by a discussion of the drivers causing alterations to ecosystem services. Lastly some attention is given to projected changes in ecosystems.