Abstract
Understanding the linkages between ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB) is crucial to sustain the flow of ES for HWB. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) provided a state-of-the-art synthesis of such knowledge. However, due to the complexity of the linkages between ES and HWB, there are still many knowledge gaps, and in particular a lack of quantitative indicators and integrated models based on the MA framework. To fill some of these research needs, we developed a quantitative index system to measure HWB, and assessed the impacts of an external driver – the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake – on HWB. Our results suggest that our proposed index system of HWB is well-designed, valid and could be useful for better understanding the linkages between ES and HWB. The earthquake significantly affected households' well-being in our demonstration sites. Such impacts differed across space and across the five dimensions of the sub-index (i.e., the basic material for good life, security, health, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action). Since the conceptual framework is based on the generalizable MA framework, our methods should also be applicable to other study areas.
Highlights
Understanding the linkages between ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB) is crucial to sustain the flow of ES for HWB [1]
Internal consistency of the human well-being index (HWBI) system The combination of indicators we used appears to be an appropriate measure of HWB
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) results of the HWBI system Model fit statistics show that the goodness-of-fit of our CFA is high regardless of the criterion used (Table 1)
Summary
Understanding the linkages between ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HWB) is crucial to sustain the flow of ES for HWB [1]. The MA suggested that ecosystems provide services that are of importance for improvements of HWB at multiple scales. These services range from provisioning services such as clean water, food, and forest products, through regulating services such as flood control, soil retention, and air purification, to cultural services such as ecotourism, aesthetic appreciation, and a sense of place [1]. During the past five decades, such improvements of HWB were achieved at escalating costs due to the decline or degradation of more than 60% of ES across the globe This decline or degradation in ES may increase the risks of nonlinear or abrupt changes, and may lead to further marginalization of some groups of people [1]
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