Understanding preferences for nature's contributions to people between and within social actors sheds insights for inclusive conservation

Inclusive management requires accounting for the diverse ways in which nature contributes to people’s lives. To uncover the broad spectrum of Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP) expressed by social actors, using plural methods has emerged as a useful approach in sustainability science. Yet, we lack research on how different interview questions influence participants’ expressions of NCP. Given the paucity of methodological studies that explore this, we investigated the effect of four distinct framings in interview questions (Appreciation, Benefits, Well-being, and Importance) on the NCP diversity expressed by different social actors. To this end, we analyzed interviews with nature conservationists (n = 28), tour guides (n = 20), and tourists (n = 38) at Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We uncovered 27 NCP. Further, the framing of the questions worked differently for social actors to express NCP. Multiple question-framings were necessary for all social actors to express a diversity of NCP, i.e., conservationists expressed all 27 NCP, guides 25 NCP, and tourists 19 NCP, respectively. Moreover, ten NCP were sensitive to the question-framing, the social actor, or even both, suggesting that these factors conditioned the NCP diversity we uncovered. Arguing that methods used to uncover NCP serve as ‘NCP-articulating institutions’, we claim that researchers can reduce the risk of response omission by purposefully designing their research. Complementing previous calls for plural methods, our results showed that a ‘within-method pluralizing’ approach, i.e., using various question-framings as tools within one method, can also amplify social actors’ NCP expression by drawing on the power of words.

Woody encroachment is affecting nature's contributions to people (NCP) in grassy ecosystems around the world, but these impacts have not yet been well summarised. Moreover, the impacts of encroachment are likely to vary depending on the historical ecosystem dynamics, climatic conditions, encroacher species, and the temporal, spatial, cultural and socio‐economic contexts, including the dependence of communities on natural resources. To address these issues, we systematically reviewed the literature on the impacts of woody encroachment in Africa and North America, according to the three broad groups of the NCP framework: material, non‐material and regulating NCP. The material NCP most adversely affected by woody encroachment was the reduction in herbaceous forage availability, leading to reductions in the number and products of livestock on both continents. The benefits of material NCP were largely experienced in Africa and constituted the provision of wood materials for fuel, building and forage. Negative impacts on non‐material NCP, such as recreation, tourism and social amenities, were also reported for Africa. For regulating NCP, negative effects were reported on soil health, habitat availability and the regulation of hydrological NCP (in terms of water loss) in both continents. The regulating benefits were mainly carbon stocks in both continents, with North America reporting more than three times more positive cases than Africa. The benefits of woody encroachment, such as carbon stocks, must be understood in the context of the highlighted diverse impacts on other NCP. Depending on the context (e.g. ecological, spatial, cultural or socioeconomic), the need for certain NCP such as livestock production, tourism revenue and water provision supports efforts to reverse woody encroachment. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Gross ecosystem product (GEP) assessment can convert physical quantities of nature’s contribution into monetary units, so that measure regulating nature's contribution to people (NCP) with a unified standard to support decision-making. The nature's contributions and people's needs are often spatial mismatch, while most of assessments lacked the integration of NCP and GEP in a spatial flow view, which is not conducive to the cross-regional policy making of "who benefits, who pays". Taking six typical cities of the Loess Plateau as a case, we valued the GEP of four material NCPs and three regulating NCPs from 2000 to 2020. We established spatial flow allocation methods for water supply, soil retention, sandstorm prevention to decompose the GEP contributions of the three regulating NCPs to the neighboring and downstream cities, so as to combine the nature's contributions located in the middle reaches and the neighboring and downstream people's needs in the form of monetary value. The results show that the GEP of the six cities in the Loess Plateau grew from 20.22 billion Yuan in 2000 to 36.98 billion Yuan in 2020, with the material NCP growing from 10.54 billion Yuan to 26.95 billion Yuan, and the regulating NCP growing from 9.67 billion Yuan to 10.03 billion Yuan. In the extraterritorial flow of regulating NCPs, GEP for water supply NCP and soil retention NCP flowed to downstream of the Yellow River, GEP for sandstorm prevention NCP flowed to neighboring cities to the east and south of the study area. The flow of NCPs exhibited spatial heterogeneity, with the city benefiting from the greatest variety of NCP types differing from the city benefiting from the highest flow value of NCPs. The assessment demonstrates the feasibility of integrating the NCP and GEP indicator systems to spatially guide cross-regional payment for ecosystem services policy.

Equitable measures for nature conservation require an in‐depth understanding of human‐nature relations. Using qualitative and quantitative data from semi‐structured household surveys, we investigated people's perception of nature's contribution to their perceived well‐being along an elevational gradient in eastern Nepal. We used linear and ordinal regressions to identify the factors influencing these perceptions and qualitative analyses to identify nature's contributions to people (NCP) likely contributing to this well‐being. We found nuanced and context‐specific relationships between people and nature in Nepal, emphasising how geographic location, formal education, socio‐economic factors and gender shape perceptions of how nature contributes to well‐being. Participants provided examples of a variety of material, non‐material and regulating NCP that are crucial for multiple aspects of their well‐being, underscoring the need for integrated conservation approaches that extend beyond prioritising habitat maintenance to also encompass enhancing material and non‐material NCP. While conservation interventions may be informed by global conceptual frameworks and policy agreements such as the IPBES Conceptual Framework, the Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Sustainable Development Agenda, they must be rooted in the collective perspectives and experiences of the local context in which conservation actually happens. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Predicting how nature's contributions to people (NCP) vary spatially remains a challenge. For NCP provided by mobile species, it is unclear how predictions need to account for the influence of multiple habitat types that act as sources, sinks and potential distractors of the NCP‐providing species. Existing approaches that do not account for these effects may inaccurately predict outcomes in real landscapes. To move beyond these limitations, we transfer quantitative inference approaches from movement ecology to explore how spatial habitat patterns determine the negative NCP of the invasive common brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula in New Zealand. We used a Bayesian model to investigate how the size of, and distance from, grassland and indigenous and exotic forest patches together contribute to relative possum density (measured by capture probability across a trapping network) in a heterogeneous 11,000‐ha landscape. We found that indigenous and exotic forest area were the most important factors in determining possum density. Although capture probability declined with increasing grassland area, the addition of grassland did not improve the relative model fit above one with indigenous forest as the only habitat. We expected differences in predicted possum density at habitat boundaries, for example, due to preferential foraging at edges. We found that indigenous and exotic forests contributed to capture probability interactively, such that capture probability at the between‐habitat edge was lower than expected, given the habitat area. We also found that models allowing for non‐linear habitat effects of exotic forests or grasslands, but not indigenous forests, were significantly better at predicting possum density than simpler models. Synthesis and applications. Our novel approach for spatial prediction can be applied to any of nature's contributions to people (NCP), and extended to identify trade‐offs and synergies among multiple NCP. For example, the negative NCP of possum density trades off with multiple known positive NCP from indigenous forests, including culturally significant non‐material NCP, and material NCP produced by exotic forests. We recommend that landscape management plans to maximise these positive NCP in future scenarios also consider how the risk of possum density may dampen net NCP provision. To minimise this negative NCP, our results support trap deployment in both indigenous and exotic forest.

Cities have pushed forward re‐naturing initiatives in local planning agendas. Discourses and rationales for such interventions tend to follow instrumental framings often narrowed down to the economic, health and ecological benefits of nature's contributions to people (NCP). Yet, diverse urban residents often connect to other socio‐nature framings that are associated with a plurality of values held for nature, including relational, intrinsic, and instrumental values. Focusing mostly on urban NCP, we used Q‐methodology to explore the perspectives and expressions of urban residents' diversity of values for urban greenery and broader human‐nature relationships. We explore the role of both instrumental and relational values, as well as certain potential disvalues of urban NCP. In light of the recent IPBES values assessment (IPBES, 2022) we follow a call for empirical studies and methodologies to explore, elicit and visibilize plural values about nature. We base our study in the Basque city of Vitoria‐Gasteiz, Spain (2012 European Green Capital) where we identify four distinct perspectives, all of which relate to a diversity of values about urban nature. Urban residents mostly perceive positive values for NCP as directly connected to their wellbeing. Yet, NCP that impact social bonds within their social community, expressed for instance through community‐related values, are perceived differently across the four perspectives. We conclude that planners and decision‐makers should pay scrutiny to include the four, partly differing, perspectives about the plural values of (urban) NCP in policymaking processes to assure just and inclusive outcomes. Here, intersectional and participatory approaches are needed beyond dominating framings of NCPs and related values, especially those that can take into account the needs and preferences of marginalized social groups. Special emphasis should be put on integrating relational values as nourishing such values through planning can play an important role in creating place‐rooted connections with local urban landscapes and the community. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Achieving goals for conservation and sustainability using nature, decision-making, and policy planning requires accurate modes of description to understand the relationship between society and the environment. Despite most planning strategies being constrained by policy objectives, planning is expected to be more participatory and inclusive of the plurality of values and all types of socio-spatial relationships. Based on Lefebvre's social theory, the objectives of this work are to propose a triad of spaces as a helpful framework to analyse nature's contributions to people (NCP), describe different spaces socially constructed by coffee and potato farmer communities in Colombia, and explore the implications for various kinds of decision-making. Using qualitative research methods, this manuscript describes three spaces:lived spacesas intangible spaces based on local, religious, and ceremonial values of NCP;perceived spacesinclude farmer spatial organization according to the ties of kinship and the downward course of streams, the incidence of negative NCP, such as plant diseases, and types of management crops; andconceived spacesas the overlapping of different spatial views of territorial planning. Given that NCP has great potential to integrate diversity of values about nature and cultural contexts into decision-making, the triad of social spaces offers a spatial dimension to the analyses of NCP. Lived spaces make non-material NCP and non-instrumental values more visible. Perceived spaces highlight material NCP and regulating NCP with the view that maintenance of NCP in the future is essential for relational and instrumental values, e.g., how material NCP and regulating NCP of landscapes are perceived and by whom. Conceived spaces emphasize the predominance of the intrinsic biophysical values of NCP. Thus, the triad of social spaces as a conceptual framework can be useful in the operationalization of NCP in environmental management, the governance of schemes, and the implementation of land-use plans at the local scale. By thinking of these spaces relationally, such insight can inform and enhance decisions and policymaking about the value of places toward the priorities of meeting management. The results of the study emphasize the important policy implications of recognizinglivedandperceivedspaces in decision-making and highlight the role of NCP in facilitating the communication of these spaces to support spatial management of land use.

Understanding how hydropower migrants perceive nature's contributions to people (NCP) and how these perceptions relate to their subjective well‐being (SWB) is essential for informing resettlement policies that promote a good quality of life. How hydropower migrants' perceived NCP affects SWB remains poorly understood. To fill this gap, this study conducted an empirical investigation of migrants relocated by the Wudongde and Baihetan hydropower stations in Southwestern China, collecting a total of 682 survey responses capturing migrants' perceived NCP and SWB before and after resettlement. The results indicate that perceived material NCP declined by over 50% across all migrants, whereas perceived regulating and non‐material NCP decreased moderately, with larger reductions observed among ethnic minority migrants. Resettlement enhanced migrants' SWB in terms of basic materials but reduced social relations. Furthermore, the association between perceived regulating NCP and SWB strengthened after resettlement, particularly among younger migrants, while perceived non‐material NCP remained consistently linked to SWB before and after resettlement. The findings demonstrate that perceived regulating and non‐material NCP play a key role in migrants' SWB after resettlement, underscoring the significance of nature's relational values. This calls for resettlement policies that transcend material compensation and integrate migrants' perceptions and relationships with nature into decision‐making, recognizing the plural and culturally grounded ways in which people value and connect with nature, thus enhancing migrants' well‐being and fostering sustainable and equitable human–nature relationships. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Nature's contributions to people (NCP) encompass both the beneficial and detrimental effects of living nature on human quality of life, including regulatory, material, and non-material contributions. Globally, vital NCPs have been deteriorating, accelerated by changes in both natural and anthropogenic drivers over recent decades. Despite the often inevitable trade-offs between NCPs due to their spatially and temporally uneven distributions, few studies have quantitatively assessed the impacts of different drivers on the spatial and temporal changes in multiple NCPs and their interrelationships. Here we evaluate the effects of precipitation, temperature, population, gross domestic product, vegetation restoration, and urban expansion on four key regulatory NCPs—habitat maintenance, climate regulation, water quantity regulation, and soil protection—in Nei Mongol at the county level. We observe increasing trends in climate regulation and soil protection from 2000 to 2019, contrasted with declining trends in habitat maintenance and water quantity regulation. We have identified the dominant positive and negative drivers influencing each NCP across individual counties, finding that natural drivers predominantly overpowered anthropogenic drivers. Furthermore, we discover significant spatial disparities in the trade-off or synergy relationships between NCPs across the counties. Our findings illustrate how the impacts of various drivers on NCPs and their interrelationships can be quantitatively evaluated, offering significant potential for application in various spatial scales. With an understanding of trade-offs and scale effects, these insights are expected to support and inform policymaking at both county and provincial levels.

The impact of multipurpose dams on the values of nature's contributions to people under a water-energy-food nexus framing

Ecosystem restoration is inherently a complex activity with inevitable tradeoffs in environmental and societal outcomes. These tradeoffs can potentially be large when policies and practices are focused on single outcomes versus joint achievement of multiple outcomes. Few studies have assessed the tradeoffs in Nature's Contributions to People (NCP) and the distributional equity of NCP from forest restoration strategies. Here, we optimized a defined forest restoration area across India with systematic conservation planning to assess the tradeoffs between three NCP: i) climate change mitigation NCP, ii) biodiversity value NCP (habitat created for forest-dependent mammals), and iii) societal NCP (human direct use of restored forests for livelihoods, housing construction material, and energy). We show that restoration plans aimed at a single-NCP tend not to deliver other NCP outcomes efficiently. In contrast, integrated spatial forest restoration plans aimed at achievement of multiple outcomes deliver on average 83.3% (43.2 to 100%) of climate change mitigation NCP, 89.9% (63.8 to 100%) of biodiversity value NCP, and 93.9% (64.5 to 100%) of societal NCP delivered by single-objective plans. Integrated plans deliver NCP more evenly across the restoration area when compared to other plans that identify certain regions such as the Western Ghats and north-eastern India. Last, 38 to 41% of the people impacted by integrated spatial plans belong to socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, greater than their overall representation in India's population. Moving ahead, effective policy design and evaluation integrating ecosystem protection and restoration strategies can benefit from the blueprint we provide in this study for India.

Over the last half-century, nature conservation has shifted through several steps from ‘nature for itself’ to ‘nature and people’, corresponding to a new perspective that all species count to ensure ecosystem functioning, and with them that nature's contributions to people (NCPs) are effective and maintained. Yet, despite these conceptual shifts in the academic literature, conservation practices have remained largely focused on threatened species and protected areas. The last Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity insisted on the need to use biodiversity sustainably and ensure nature's contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services for the benefit of present and future generations by 2050. Here, using recently developed tables relating a large number of species observed in the Western Swiss Alps (vascular plants and vertebrates; n = 2066) to 17 key NCPs, we show that focusing on protecting threatened species only does not ensure the maintenance of key NCPs. Our results suggest that all species (threatened or not) need to be considered, in addition to strict conservation of threatened species, to support NCP provision. Similarly, considering all species better supports existing conservation programs. Developing such direct species-NCP relationships more broadly will be needed to support spatial prioritizations and help reach the 2050 GBF goals.

Investigation of the long-term interactions of nature's contributions to people under SDGs-SSPs scenarios to promote ecological sustainability in the arid and semiarid zones of China.

Aquatic food systems are important contributors to global food security to satisfy an intensifying demand for protein‐based diets, but global economic growth threatens marine systems. Cephalopod (octopus, squid and cuttlefish) fisheries can contribute to food security; however, their sustainable exploitation requires understanding connections between nature's contributions to people (NCP), food system policies and human wellbeing. Our global literature review methodology examined what is known about cephalopod food systems, value chains and supply chains, and associated market drivers. For analysis, we followed the IPBES conceptual framework to build a map of the links between cephalopod market drivers, NCP and good quality of life (GQL). Then we mapped cephalopod food system dynamics onto IPBES (in)direct drivers of change relating to catch, trade and consumption. This research contributes knowledge about key factors relating to cephalopods that can support transitions towards increased food security: the value of new aquatic food species; food safety and authenticity systems; place‐based innovations and empowerment of communities; and consumer behaviour, lifestyle and motivations for better health and environmental sustainability along the food value chain. We outline requirements for a sustainable, equitable cephalopod food system policy landscape that values nature's contributions to people, considers UN Sustainable Development Goals and emphasises the role of seven overlapping IPBES (in)direct drivers of change: Economic, Governance, Sociocultural and Socio‐psychological, Technological, Direct Exploitation, Natural Processes and Pollution. We present a novel market‐based adaptation of the IPBES conceptual framework—our ‘cephalopod food system framework’, to represent how the cephalopod food system functions and how it can inform processes to improve sustainability and equity of the cephalopod food system. This synthesised knowledge provides the basis for diagnosing opportunities (e.g. high demand for products) and constraints (e.g. lack of data about how supply chain drivers link to cephalopod NCP) to be considered regarding the role of cephalopods in transformations towards a resilient and more diversified seafood production system. This social–ecological systems approach could apply to other wild harvest commodities with implications for diverse marine species and ecosystems and can inform those working to deliver marine and terrestrial food security while preserving biodiversity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Scientific priorities and shepherds' perceptions of ungulate's contributions to people in rewilding landscapes