Creating a monetization-SolVES model to visualize the cultural ecosystem services for promoting landscape conservation

Abstract

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are often neglected due to their intangibility and subjectivity. The visualization of the monetary value of CES can clarify its spatial heterogeneity, which is conducive to enhancing people’s cognizance of the nature protection and the CES utilization. Currently, research on its spatial visualization often uses the SolVES model. This, however, indicates the spatial expression of the CES value index (non-monetary), not the monetary value. It is, therefore, of great significance to study the spatial visualization of the monetary value of CES. Using the Puzhehei Scenic Area (PSA), as a typical case of the natural and cultural landscape, we identified the primary types of CES through field investigation and interviews, and calculated their monetary value in 2019. Then, we used the SolVES model to spatially map each CES non-monetary value index, and innovatively applied the Monetization-SolVES model to realize the spatial visualization of the monetary value of CES. The results show that: (1) There are ten primary types of CES, including recreation, aesthetic, therapeutic, cultural heritage, biodiversity, social relations, intrinsic, sense of place, educational research, and future services. (2) In 2019, the total monetary value of CES in PSA was 13,483,458,700 CNY. (3) The high-value index regions of CES are primarily distributed along with the classic cruise ship projects or around the main scenic spots. (4) The Monetization-SolVES model can effectively express the spatial heterogeneity of the monetary value of CES. The highest monetary value of CES was 32,826.05 CNY/pixel (10 m × 10 m) in 2019. The monetary value of each CES type varied greatly. The monetary value of recreation was found to be the highest (273,821 CNY/pixel), and the educational research was the lowest (167.66 CNY/pixel). This can aid tourism planning and landscape conservation in PSA, and may provide references for CES research in other similar regions.