Indicators for relational values of nature’s contributions to good quality of life: the IPBES approach for Europe and Central Asia

Matthias Schröter,Esra Başak,Michael Christie,Andrew Church,Hans Keune,Elena Osipova,Elisa Oteros-Rozas,Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach,Alexander P E Van Oudenhoven,Patricia Balvanera,David González,Sander Jacobs,Zsolt Molnár,Unai Pascual,Berta Martín-López

doi:10.1080/26395916.2019.1703039

Abstract

ABSTRACT Relational values are values of desirable relationships between people and nature and among people (through nature). We report on the approach to capture relational values of nature’s contributions to people in the regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). We present a framework considering indicators along four relational value dimensions about people’s relationships with nature: security and sovereignty; health; equity and justice; and heritage, social identity and stewardship. The framework has been operationalized for three nature’s contributions to people (NCP): regulation of freshwater quality and quantity, food and feed, and physical and psychological experiences derived from nature. We identify ways to empirically assess relational values of nature’s contributions to people at regional and continental scales with social-ecological indicators and proxies, ranging from biophysical indicators to indicators that intersect socio-economic with biophysical data. We conclude that many of the identified indicators can be considered as useful proxies of relational values in a quantitative way. The analysis shows that relational values are essential to consider at the science-policy interface as they are an important set of values that people hold about nature and that go beyond instrumental relations.

Highlights

In a similar vein Chan et al (2016) and Chan et al (2018) approximate relational values (RV) as being distinct from instrumental and intrinsic values, emphasizing those preferences, principles, and virtues associated with the relationships that people have with components of nature, i.e. when the relationships themselves matter to people, beyond a means to an end
We report on the approach used in one of the four IPBES regional assessments, the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) assessment (IPBES 2018), to capture RV of and about nature and nature’s contributions to people (NCP) (Martín-López et al 2018)
We argue that RV are an important component of human-nature relationships and NCP, and these values should be taken into account in policy decisions

Summary

Introduction

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) aims to integrate diverse conceptualisations of the values of nature, nature’s contributions to people (NCP, Díaz et al 2018) and good quality of life into policy decisions (Pascual et al 2017a). From the development of its conceptual framework, IPBES has acknowledged the relevance of integrating and operationalizing relational values (RV) within its work programme including its assessments (Díaz et al 2015; Pascual et al 2017a; Chan et al 2018). Different dimensions of RV comprise eudaimonic values, which contribute to a meaningful life worth living in an Aristotelian sense (Chan et al 2018). Eudaimonic RV are associated with the values of nature as they contribute to reveal the importance of a meaningful life, including aspects of physical, mental and emotional health, security and livelihoods, cultural identity, heritage and stewardship, and perceptions of equity and sense of fairness and justice (Pascual et al 2017a).

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