Ecosystem services are the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human health and well-being. Ecosystem services are broadly grouped into four categories.

• Provisioning services refer to the products that humans obtain from ecosystems, like crops and fresh water.
• Regulating services include processes like water partitioning, climate and pest regulation and pollination promotion.
• Cultural services refer to the nonmaterial benefits from ecosystems, and include services like increased aesthetic value, educational potential, spiritual or religious connotations, and recreational uses of land.
• Support services are the foundation on which all other ecosystem services are built from. Support services include processes like the hydrological cycle, habitat provision, biodiversity maintenance, and soil formation.

Green Infrastructure Services

Green Infrastructure projects support and perform ecosystem services in a variety of ways. Most GI projects contribute to stormwater management systems, reducing the cost of stormwater management by slowing, filtering, and absorbing some of the cycled water. GI projects like rain gardens, permeable pavements and bioswales perform this ecosystem service. GI also preserves local biodiversity and can perform key processes for soil health maintenance, erosion prevention, nutrient cycling and air filtration.

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