Publisher's Synopsis
A critical step in improving the way we manage the earth's ecosystems is to take stock of their condition and their capacity to provide the goods and services we will need in years to come. The Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems (PAGE) aims to address this gap. The PAGE compares existing and new information on a global scale about the condition of five major classes of ecosystems: agroecosystems, coastal areas, forests, freshwater systems, and grasslands. The PAGE Freshwater Systems study presented here, analyzes quantitative and qualitative information and develops selected indicators of the condition of the world's freshwater systems. The condition is defined as the current and future capacity of the systems to continue providing the full range of goods and services needed or valued by humans. Specifically the study looks at measures that show the degree of human intervention in the hydrological cycle and what we know concerning three important goods and services provided by freshwater systems: water, food, and biodiversity.
