Do ecosystem service frameworks represent people’s values?

Phoebe R. Maund, Katherine N. Irvine, Martin Dallimer, Robert Fish, Gail E. Austen and Zoe G. Davies

Ecosystem Services, 2020, vol. 46, issue C

Abstract: Since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was published, a plethora of ecosystem service frameworks have been developed to conceptualise the links between the natural environment and society. The intended geographic scales of application, the policy/practice context, and the scientific disciplines involved have driven variations in how the frameworks are constructed. However, the frameworks are homogenous in that they have been created predominately based on expert opinions and views of how ecosystem services are structured. Here, we use the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) to examine the extent to which frameworks capture people’s values for British woodlands. Our findings reveal several disparities between how experts and the public conceptualise ecosystem services. The considerable refinement and specificity provided by CICES does not align with public values (e.g. some provisioning, and regulation and maintenance, services), which tend to be more generalised. We also demonstrate differences in values explained by social characteristics (e.g. ethnicity) that need to be accounted for in decision-making processes. Moving forwards, we need to consider how society views the services derived from nature and reflect this in frameworks to ensure ecosystem service approaches are effective, transparent and widely supported.

Keywords: Common international classification of ecosystem services; Cultural ecosystem services; Ecosystem service classification; Natural capital; Public values; Woodlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoser:v:46:y:2020:i:c:s2212041620301637

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101221

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