Managing regulating services for sustainability

Regulating ecosystem services (ES) are those related to the control of biogeochemical cycles and biophysical structures at different scales (Watanabe and Ortega, 2011; Potschin and Haines-Young, 2011). Their contribution to human well-being is often indirect in that they support the supply with other services, such as provisioning services, or mitigate natural risks that endanger human health and life or cause economic damage. The key regulating services to consider are those which can be changed through management, planning, and policymaking, such as hazard mitigation (e.g. flooding), climate regulation (local and global), water purification, water erosion control, biological control of pests and diseases, and pollination (Sandhu et al., 2012).