1 to protect and ensure conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The CBD recognized that the Earth?s biological resources are essential to human well-being and economic and social development and thus constitute a global asset of crucial value to both present and future generations (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 2005). More recently the United Nations Secretary-General initiated and completed the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to assess the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and the scientific basis for action needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. The assessment provided a reaffirmation that sustainable societies are dependent on the goods and services provided by ecosystems, including clean air and water, productive soils, and the production of food and fiber and more importantly, it provided a new paradigm (i.e., ecosystem services) upon which to assess and value biotic resources throughout the world (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Farber et al., 2006). Ecosystem services have been defined in a variety of ways; however, in the end they reflect the basic outputs of ecological function or process that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being, economy, health, and a sense of security. The central premise of the ecosystem services framework is that all forms of life on earth (i.e., biodiversity) provide the core benefits that humans derive from their environment and thus are responsible for sustaining human culture throughout the world." /> A National Approach for Mapping and Quantifying Habitat-based Biodiversity Metrics Across Multiple Spatial Scales | Science Inventory | US EPA

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