Business and Ecosystems Issue Brief

The document identifies six critical ecosystem challenges—water scarcity, climate change, habitat change, biodiversity loss and invasive species, overexploitation of oceans, and nutrient overloading—that threaten the integrity of ecosystems and the services they provide to businesses. It references the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), which found that human activity has altered ecosystems faster and more extensively than ever before in the last 50 years and that the majority of the 24 assessed ecosystem services are degraded. The MA categorizes these services into provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) concluded that human activity has caused unprecedented ecosystem alteration over the last 50 years.
• The MA evaluated 24 ecosystem services and determined that most of them have been degraded.
• There are six interconnected challenges that specifically impact the integrity of ecosystems and their ability to provide services to businesses: water scarcity, climate change, habitat change, biodiversity loss and invasive species, overexploitation of oceans, and nutrient overloading.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Business and Ecosystems Issue Brief. https://www.wri.org/research/business-and-ecosystems-issue-brief

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Business and Ecosystems Issue Brief. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/business-and-ecosystems-issue-brief.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Business and Ecosystems Issue Brief |url=https://www.wri.org/research/business-and-ecosystems-issue-brief |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbusiness, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Business and Ecosystems Issue Brief}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/business-and-ecosystems-issue-brief}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }