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Although oxygen is now a natural constituent of air (about 21% by volume), eons ago, it was absent from the atmosphere. All the oxygen now present has come from plants.

While phytoplankton in the ocean are the main producers, a mature tree can produce 260 pounds of oxygen every year. This means two large trees will support a family of four.

Do you have enough trees growing in your yard to sustain you and your family?

At attempt to place a monetary value on the priceless services provided by nature was recently revealed in a 67-page report from the David Suzuki and the Pacific Parklands foundations (available at www.davidsuzuki.org or www.pacificparklands.ca). This report, “Natural Capital in BC’s Lower Mainland,” indicates the annual value of ecosystems in the Lower Mainland is an astounding $5.4 billion, or $2,462 per person. This apparently does not include the additional benefits we derive from the marine ecosystems located on our foreshore.

Obviously, if we had to pay for nature, we might not be able to afford it. And so, the reasoning hopefully goes, we should take more effective measures to protect the natural world around us because we need nature far more than nature needs us.

Consider again those trees that might be growing in your backyard. In addition to supplying your family with oxygen, they are also very effective in removing pollutants from the air. Trees can absorb carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide. In addition, their leaves intercept small particles and, thus, can remove other harmful pollutants from the air. Even more importantly, trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester carbon in their wood. Thus, planting trees remains one of our main defences against global warming because of this marvellous ability to remove and store carbon dioxide as they grow.

Even better than planting new trees is protecting older ones because mature forests store almost 10 times more carbon in their vegetation and soil than do forests under 20 years of age.

Wetlands are also remarkably good at storing carbon. Of the various types of wetlands, bogs provide the best benefit. Bogs, such as Burns Bog in Delta, can store even more carbon than ancient forests (642 tonnes of carbon per hectare compared to 508 tonnes/ha for forests older than 250 years).

Providing a hedge against future global warming is only one of several ecosystem services provided by forests and wetlands in the Lower Mainland. The forests in the Coquitlam, Seymour and Capilano drinking watersheds on our north shores also help to ensure a supply of excellent quality drinking water to the 2.5 million people who live in Metro Vancouver.

Forests and wetlands closer to residential areas provide outstanding protection from erosion and floods, especially during the heavy November downpours. When rain falls, it needs somewhere to go. Forests can absorb tremendous amounts of rainfall, unlike the hard surfaces of city streets and rooftops. And rainfall discharged into urban streams on its way to the ocean can help to provide excellent habitat for salmon.

The other outstanding service provided by nature is food production. Even if farmers plant and harvest the crops, the fertile soil on flood plains has come courtesy of natural processes, as do the pollination services of wild insects such as bumblebees. Worldwide, approximately one third of our food production is dependent on pollination by insects, birds and bats.

In the Lower Mainland, studies have shown the pollination services needed to produce many annual crops — including tomatoes, strawberries and fruit trees — is worth almost $250 million. Although domestic honeybees provide some of these pollination services, crop yields are typically higher in areas where wild insect pollinators are also present.

Personally, I don’t need any studies to convince me of the worth of nature. Apart from essential services such as climate regulation, flood protection, drinking water and food production, I also enjoy nature for its recreational and spiritual values. But if it takes a report such as this one to convince economists and politicians to make decisions that will better protect the natural world, I am all for it.