Business and ecosystem services are inextricably linked. Corporations not only impact
ecosystems and the services they provide, but also depend upon them.

For instance, freshwater is a critical input for every conceivable major industrial process; the pharmaceutical industry benefits from genetic resources; agribusiness and the food sector depend on ecosystem services like pollination, pest and erosion regulation; forest industries and the downstream construction, communications and packaging sectors rely on continued supplies of timber and wood fiber; all extractive industries cause some level of ecosystem disturbance; whilst tourism increasingly builds on an ecosystems cultural services and aesthetic values; all building owners and plant operators benefit from the natural hazard regulation service that some ecosystems provide. In fact, it is hard to think of any economic activity that does not benefit from ecosystem services or, in some way, alter the ecosystems around it.