Assessment of Ecosystem Services at the Offin-Shelterbelt Forest

Ecosystem services are developed through the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment defines ecosystem services as the benefits people derive from the ecosystem. The concept of ecosystem services has become a very important model for relating ecosystem functions to that of human welfare. Ecosystem services are categorized into four broad groups namely provisioning services, supporting services, cultural services and regulating services. For all the four categories of the ecosystem services, much attention is given to only the provisioning aspect neglecting the other relevant services such as regulating services. Some researchers have reported that, the human use of ecosystem services especially provisioning services has accelerated in the last 50 years and that they are being over-utilized. This study aimed at evaluating the ecosystem services, its importance and how to maintain ecological integrity with specific objectives of determining the effects of the respondents' demographic characteristics on their valuation of the ecosystems services as well as their willingness to pay and participate in the conservation the forest reserve.