1: Nature´s contribution to people, NCP

NCP is all the contributions, both positive and negative, of living nature, (all organisms, ecosystems and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes)to the quality of human life.

Positive contributions include e.g. food supply, water purification, flood protection and artistic inspiration, while negative contributions include e.g. disease transmission and overexploitation that harm people or their assets. NCPs can be perceived as advantages or disadvantages depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context.

The NCP, as defined and applied by IPBES, differs from previous work in several important ways. Its NCP approach recognizes the central and pervasive role that culture plays in defining all human-nature linkages. Second, the use of the NCP highlights, emphasizes and operationalizes the role of indigenous and local knowledge in understanding nature's contributions to people.