The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment, called for by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2000, launched in 2001 and published in 2005 with more than 14millionofgrants.Itpopularizedthetermecosystemservices,thebenefitsgainedbyhumansfromecosystems.Duringthe1990s,internationalconventionssuchastheUNEPConventiononBiologicalDiversityandtheConventiontoCombatDesertificationidentifiedtheneedforaglobalscientificecosystemassessment.Therehadbeenadvancesinresourceeconomicswithlittleeffectonenvironmentalpolicy.InNovember1998,UNEP,NASA,andtheWorldBankpublishedastudycalled"ProtectingourPlanet,SecuringourFuture:LinkagesAmongGlobalEnvironmentalIssuesandHumanNeeds".In2001,theMillenniumEcosystemAssessmentwaslaunchedwithworkoveraperiodoffouryears.Over1300contributorsfrom95countrieswereinvolvedasauthors.InMay2000theGlobalEnvironmentFacilityapproveda7 million grant, followed in July 2000 by a United Nations Foundation 4milliongrantandfinancialsupportfromthegovernmentofNorwayforthefirstmeetingoftheBoardoftheMAinTrondheim,andinDecember2000a2.4 million grant by the Packard Foundation for a total of more than $13.4 million, considered "75% of the full budget".
The MA was published in 2005 and made four main assessments:
Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.
The changes to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people.
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