The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) designed to provide scientific information to decisionmakers and the public was conducted by more than 1300 scientists from 95 countries with the partnership and support of the four major environmental conventions (CBD, CCD, RAMSAR, UNCM), national governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector represented in its governing body: The MA Board. The MA focused on ecosystem services (benefits people derive from ecosystems such as food, water and climate regulation), how changes in these services have affected human wellbeing and how such changes may affect people in the future as well as what response options might be adopted at local, national or global scales to improve ecosystem management and contribute to human wellbeing and poverty alleviation. Among the outstanding problems identified by this assessment are the dire state of many of the world’s fish stocks; the intense vulnerability of the 2 billion people living in dry regions to the loss of ecosystem services, including water supply; increased likelihood of non-linear (accelerating, abrupt and potentially irreversible) changes in ecosystems and the growing threat to ecosystems from climate change and nutrient pollution. Human activities have taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinctions, further threatening our own well-being. The bottom line of the MA findings is that human actions are depleting Earth’s natural capital, putting such strain on the environment that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted. At the same time, the assessment shows that the future really is in our hands. We can reverse the degradation of many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and practice required are substantial and not currently underway. The loss of services derived from ecosystems is a significant barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger, and disease.