Abstract
ABSTRACT How the concept of value is defined within ecosystem services operates as a filter through which important ecosystem features are identified by the specific benefits they provide to society and individuals. This value narrative reflects intrinsic and instrumental concepts which have been challenged by the Nature’s Contributions to People approach in additionally highlighting the importance of relational values, stemming from socio-cultural and ethical dimensions of human relationships with nature and ecosystems. Perceived as important for the interface between ecosystems and society, relational values are yet to be operationalised in ecosystem assessment processes. This study addresses how this can be done by using a mixed-method approach encompassing quantitative and qualitative data and methodologies. Our study focuses on how school children aged 10–12 years in Sweden (n = 403) value forest ecosystem services, and further hints at the contextual factors that mediate their value perception. Children are an important demographic for reasons of intergenerational equity, and because of the temporal inertia of intensively managed forest ecosystems in Sweden. Our results show that students display complex notions of value encompassing intrinsic, instrumental and relational values alike, highlighting the importance of a broader discussion on the valuation of ecosystems through mixed methods approaches.
Highlights
Why we should protect nature raises fundamental questions for environmental policy about the interactions between ecosystems and society
We study how to elicit these different elements of value in the context of forest ecosystem services (FESS) on a methodological level
Our findings confirm the need expressed in recent literature for more holistic conceptions of value to be expressed within valuation processes
Summary
Why we should protect nature raises fundamental questions for environmental policy about the interactions between ecosystems and society. There are currently two major ways in which value is defined in debates over why nature should be protected These include through intrinsic values which reflect nature’s inherent value independent of people, and instrumental values which relate to the value of nature for people where nature provides tangible goods and valuable services such as climate regulation (Justus et al 2009). These two values are often presented as separate and alternative understandings of the interface between society and ecosystems. A third category of value, termed relational value, is emerging as a potential frame through which more robust forms of value can be described within ecosystem valuation processes, providing a context through which multiple forms of value can co-exist within environmental policy (Chan et al 2016)
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