Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Living Beyond Our Means

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board identifies ten critical conclusions regarding the human impact on nature. It argues that while humans have altered ecosystems to meet demands for food, water, and energy, these changes have weakened essential services like air and water purification and disaster protection. The document highlights the vulnerability of 2 billion people in dry regions, the threat of species extinction, and the role of ecosystem loss as a barrier to achieving Millennium Development Goals. It concludes that reducing human impact requires changing the perception of ecosystem services as free and limitless, alongside coordinated policy efforts across governments and businesses.

• Human modifications of ecosystems to satisfy demands for energy, fiber, fresh water, and food have improved lives for billions but have simultaneously compromised nature's ability to provide critical services, including the provision of medicines, protection from disasters, and the purification of water and air.
• The assessment identifies several critical environmental problems, specifically the precarious state of global fish stocks, the vulnerability of 2 billion people in dry regions regarding water supply and ecosystem services, and the increasing threats posed by nutrient pollution and climate change.
• Human activity has pushed the planet toward a massive wave of species extinctions, and the resulting loss of ecosystem services acts as a significant obstacle to meeting Millennium Development Goals related to disease, hunger, and poverty.
• Current technology and knowledge are sufficient to significantly lower human impact on ecosystems, but full deployment is unlikely until the full value of ecosystem services is recognized and they are no longer viewed as limitless and free.
• Effective protection of natural assets requires coordinated action from international institutions, businesses, and all government sectors, with ecosystem productivity depending on regulations, taxation, subsidy, trade, and investment policy choices.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Living Beyond Our Means. https://www.wri.org/research/millennium-ecosystem-assessment-living-beyond-our-means

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Living Beyond Our Means. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/millennium-ecosystem-assessment-living-beyond-our-means.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=World Resources Institute |title=Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Living Beyond Our Means |url=https://www.wri.org/research/millennium-ecosystem-assessment-living-beyond-our-means |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{worldresourcesinstitutendmillennium, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Living Beyond Our Means}}, publisher = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/millennium-ecosystem-assessment-living-beyond-our-means}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }