Cultural Ecosystem Services Values Research Articles

Analysis of the potential value of cultural ecosystem services: A case study of Busan City, Republic of Korea

Although the importance of ecosystem services (ES) as a result of urbanization continues to be emphasized, their economic value to cities as a whole has not been widely explored. This study aimed to provide basic data to respond to the continuously increasing demand for ESs by analyzing the potential value of cultural ecosystem services (CESs). These services are among the most important ESs and represent the most intimate interactions between humans and nature. The ongoing Busan Eco Delta City development was selected as the study subject. Using the concept of compensating surplus as a theoretical framework, the benefit derived from CESs by local citizens was determined. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted on the willingness to pay and its influence on CESs. Results from the 1,477 survey responses showed that the willingness to pay for CESs was affected by the offer amount, age, place of residence, willingness to visit, and environmental organization membership. The average value ascribed to CESs was KRW 9,044, based on a dichotomous-choice response logit model. Among the CESs, the existence CES had the strongest influence on willingness to pay, indicating that the natural resources of the urban ecosystem were of the highest value to the residents. This study presents a clear approach to estimating the potential value of cultural services derived from the urban ecosystem and provides reference data for decision-making processes such as planning and policy establishment.

Leveraging Ecosystem Services and Well-Being in Urban Landscape Planning for Nature Conservation: A Case Study of Peri-Urban Dynamics

Within peri-urban landscapes, this research investigated the complexity of the balance between urban development and green infrastructure preservation, with a specific focus on Harku municipality, Estonia. This study aimed to understand the interplay between cultural ecosystem services (CESs) and residents’ well-being. Aligned with the EU Nature Restoration Law, this research explored long-term dynamics in peri-urban areas’ CES conservation. The methodology included creating scenarios by combining new secondary data with the author’s prior studies, which covered landscape belts, CES values, and residents’ perceptions of satisfaction with the environment and recreation opportunities collected through a municipal survey. While residents expressed satisfaction in coastal and green spaces, a distinct decline was evident near villages with industrial and agricultural features, highlighting the landscape’s impact on well-being. This study identified case-study-specific threats related to rapid urbanisation and put forward constructive policy recommendations. The goal was to develop effective and sustainable strategies for preserving nature through ecosystem service-based frameworks, enhance community well-being, and account for landscape dynamics through scenario planning.

Can historic natural disturbances enable conservation opportunities? Evidence from the establishment of national parks in Sweden

ABSTRACT This study investigates conservation establishment and management in the context of Sweden's 30 national parks by conceptualising natural disturbances as focus events for conservation opportunities. Since positive effects on the environment manifest a long time after a natural disturbance, it may take time before society sees a need to conserve the natural area. To conceptualise such delayed responses to a focus event, the concept of a ‘delayed window’ is introduced. An analysis of Park Establishment Proposals from the Swedish Parliament for establishing and extending Sweden’s national parks was conducted by sending a survey to county representatives for each national park (response rate 19/30). The results show that historic natural disturbances were mentioned as a motivating factor for establishing many of Sweden’s 30 national parks (37%, i.e. 11 parks). The result suggests that the delayed window opens when biodiversity and Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) values of historic disturbance(s) become visible. The time span for motivating values is calculated for biodiversity values (18–829 years) and CES values (5–829 years). However, surveyed representatives responded that future disturbances may not be desired or only desired if controlled or limited, highlighting a paradox in terms of the perceived value of past and future disturbances.

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

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.

Analysis of Landscape Character Assessment and Cultural Ecosystem Services Evaluation Frameworks for Peri-Urban Landscape Planning: A Case Study of Harku Municipality, Estonia

This study combined landscape character assessment (LCA) and cultural ecosystem services (CES) frameworks to evaluate human well-being in the peri-urban area of Harku Municipality, Estonia. Using geospatial data combined with expert opinions, the study investigated the interplay between landscape character types and environmental/contact types through the LCA method. In total, 21 distinct landscape types comprising 47 separate areas were identified, with CES values determined for each. Restorative, social, and cognitive values were associated with each landscape character type. The findings demonstrated the higher restorative potential of blue and green elements (water bodies, forests) with low settlement density and minimal agriculture. High-density settlements with good road access demonstrated significant social values, while mixed forests and wetlands tended to be associated with higher cognitive values. Coastal zones with semi-dense settlements and mixed forests earned favourable ratings, whereas industrial/agricultural landscapes were rated lowest for all values. These findings offer valuable insights into the complex dynamics of urban–rural interactions, resilience, and the impact of urbanisation on CES. They may inform future landscape management strategies, urban planning decisions, and policy considerations. Additionally, this study highlights the need for further research to explore the long-term trends and potential changes in CES in evolving peri-urban environments.

Plural relational green space values for whom, when, and where? – A social media approach

The values people ascribe to their interactions with and within the environment are essential to inform justice and sustainability transformations. The development of many of these values unfolds through enjoying so-called cultural ecosystem services (CES) such as outdoor recreation, landscape aesthetics or environmental education. A growing body of literature is improving the assessment of the multiple ways that people value human and non-human relations arising when enjoying CES. Yet, the geo-temporal-demographic patterns of values distribution and the lessons that can be derived are to be consistently analysed within this relational framework. Building on a visual and textual content analysis of social media (SM) data geotagged in a peri-urban park of Barcelona, Spain, this research explores the potential of analysing the associated metadata (such as geotag, timestamp and social media users' demographics – i.e., performed gender and residency) in order to develop a better understanding of the linkages between people's values and the situated context of their construction. Our results show trends in relational CES values distribution along and between the analysed spatial, temporal, and demographic dimensions. In particular, despite there being a multiplicity of values revealed across the whole case-study area, to enjoy contemplative CES, such as spiritual or cognitive value, people need to move away from highly frequented areas and prefer specific times of the day, respectively evening or afternoon. Locals show a higher preference to visit the park on weekends compared to non-locals, while women-performing users show a significantly higher drop in their CES benefits uptake compared to men-performing users at night. In addition to providing novel and fine-grained information for transformative practices toward justice and sustainability, this study highlights the importance of complementing CES studies employing SM with metadata analysis to improve our understanding of the relationship between the real and the more-than-real.

Cultural ecosystem services evaluation in a coastal city of China using social media data

The coastal and marine ecosystem provides many ecosystem services, including provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services, which are all significant to human well-being. The value of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) has yet to be fully recognized due to the inability to quantify and monetize, which brings to the overall ignorance except for the recreational and tourism value. Based on CES-related social media data (Weibo) posted in Xiamen within the 12 months in 2021, this study maps the spatiotemporal distribution of CES in Xiamen using a combined approach consisting of GIS spatial analysis and Social Network Analysis (SNA). The comprehensive and qualitative evaluation conducted in this study reveals that; 1) the highest CES values and the most diverse CES types were found in Gulangyu Island, which is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site; 2) among all habitats, the beaches have the highest CES value, accompanied by wetland parks, and islands; 3) for CES types, the spiritual services have higher values than other CES types particularly ecotourism which has become the priority in previous studies, and with educational services exhibiting the lowest value. This study provides constructive suggestions for the coordination and management of coastal resources and demonstrates a feasible new approach using social data to evaluate the coastal CES more comprehensively, and provides science-based recommendations for the local governments to improve social well-being through the contribution of the coastal CES.

Magnifier or refractor? Exploring the impact of geographical indication on people’s perception of the value of cultural ecosystem services based on the SolVES model

Purpose/SignificanceTo a certain extent, geographical indication (GI) protects the ecosystem of product origin, but there is still a lack of quantitative evidence on its cultural spillover effect. The mechanism of the impact of geo-certified landscapes on people’s perceived value of cultural ecosystem services (CESs) should be explored.Methods/ProceduresIn this study, two urban forest parks, Changqing and Zhongshan, which differ mainly in terms of geo-certified landscapes, were selected in Beihai, Guangxi. Basically, homogeneous volunteers were recruited, and photos of value labels were collected from their independent visits to two parks. The SolVES model was used to explore the effect of the presence or absence of geo-certified landscapes in urban park ecosystems on people’s CESs needs and the relation to the spatial context of the landscape.Results/ConclusionsThe results show that GI significantly enhance people’s perception of human CESs value of landscape elements, and clarifies the correspondence perception relationship between CESs value types and each landscape element. In addition to the spillover effect on humanistic value perception, GI also attracts and transfers people’s esthetic attention to the natural landscape itself to a certain extent. And these two effects will also spread to the ecosystem that the landscape belongs to.

Participatory mapping of ecosystem services across a gradient of agricultural intensification in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

ABSTRACT Agrarian change affects the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) by reducing the extent of natural ecosystems. Agricultural intensification can lead to changes in land covers and livelihood opportunities and it remains unclear how such changes align or misalign with the desires of local communities. Using participatry mapping, we assessed ES uses and desires of Indigenous people and local communities provided by different land cover types along a gradient of agricultural intensification (forest subsistence, agroforestry mosaic, and monoculture and market-dependence) in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. We found that mapped ES use diversity was highest in the forest-dependent zone and lowest near monoculture agricultural systems. The expressed ES uses and desires varied greatly among land cover types amidst loss of old-growth forest and greater reliance on secondary forest and shrub land. The spatial analysis showed that high priority areas of ES use was related to access in the landscape, demonstrating the importance of attending to place-based social values in ES assessments. From this study, we call for a people-centric spatial modelling approach to address the divergence of social and cultural ES values associated with land covers under different intensification contexts. Participatory mapping clarifies the ES desires of local communities, which state policy often fails to address. We recommend a place specific management strategy to reduce ES trade-offs of specific land use practices, which are currently apparent with agrarian change in Indonesia and relevant for other tropical developing countries.

Methodological development of cultural ecosystem services evaluation using location data

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) are some of the most significant benefits nature provides to humans, but often suffer from poor understanding and quantification, due to inconsistent conceptualizations and methodological challenges. This research first examined and proposed a CES theoretical framework, and then, developed a method employing smartphone location data that can be extended and generalized to quantify CES. Nagoya City, Japan, was used as a case study to explain how to employ this proposed methodology in the practical level and its results showed that in Nagoya City, Nagoya Castle, Atsuta Jingu, and Tsuruma Park were the three sites with the largest CES values in September 2019; and among the various CES subtypes, cultural heritage, aesthetic, and mental health were the three most perceived. With the proposed methodology, CES can be evaluated in a more objective and comprehensive fashion; compared across space, time, and cultural diversities; and further integrated into ecosystem services assessments.

How to accurately assess cultural ecosystem services by spatial value transfer? An answer based on the analysis of urban parks

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) intangibly influence many aspects of public daily life, and when evaluating them, it is difficult to obtain perception data. Spatial value transfer predicts the ecosystem service value of policy sites based on the spatial associations of study sites with services value. This approach has the potential to produce an evaluation without perception data. Previous studies have preliminarily researched the validity and effects of using spatial value transfer to evaluate CESs, but, there are doubts about the transfer performance of indicators, differences among various CES types, and the impact of the physical environment. This study examines the above key points of spatial value transfer in depth, with urban parks as the study area to assess three types of CES values that are closely related to human well-being: aesthetic, historical and recreational value. Two popular indicators, area under the curve statistics and transfer error rate, are used to evaluate transfer performance. The results reveal that historical values have the best transfer performance, and transfer error is lower in transfers from small locations to large locations with environmental variable combinations that include road network, water coverage and attraction distribution. The transfer error rate indicator could not only assess the overall transfer performance but also generate maps to reflect the distribution and value of transfer error. We suggest that more knowledge of minor differences in physical factors and developing specific transfer coefficients for them are necessary to enhance the accuracy of CES evaluation by spatial value transfer.

Cultural values of ecosystem services from coastal marine areas: Case of Taytay Bay, Palawan, Philippines

The Philippine coastal marine ecosystem provides many Ecosystem Services (ES) and is a region where coastal communities are closely dependent on the sea. Previous ES studies focus mainly on biophysical and economic assessments with limited studies about Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES), particularly in the Philippines. Here, we present the CES provided by Taytay Bay, Palawan through local knowledge. Using semi-structured interviews together with participatory mapping activities we quantified marine-related values and threats across Taytay Bay. Spatial mapping of CES, including sense of place, heritage, identity, spiritual, inspiration, knowledge, education, aesthetics, recreation, and intergenerational showed benefits occurring in particular spatial patterns, suggesting that services are provided and contribute to human wellbeing at a community level. Respondents highly valued benefits to their livelihoods but also identified many distinct values beyond income generation, including sense of place, spiritual, aesthetics, and recreational values. The connection between some cultural services e.g., source of ecological knowledge, and provisioning services e.g., seafood, was also recognized. Destructive fishing practices, agrochemicals from pearl and seaweed farms, and privatization of islands were perceived to introduce the highest threats. This has management implications since threats to CES also threaten other ES. The co-occurrence of CES values with provisioning values suggests a holistic approach to ecosystem valuation is needed. The loss of one ES is likely to represent a loss in multiple other services and protecting key service-providing habitats leads to multiple benefits. The study results demonstrate the importance of integrating cultural and non-monetary environmental values into ecosystem valuation and practical on-the-ground policies.

Perceived Economic Values of Cultural Ecosystem Services in Green and Blue Spaces of 98 Urban Wetland Parks in Jiangxi, China

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) of urban wetland parks (UWPs) can be priced according to monetary values. Urban green and blue spaces (UGS and UBS, respectively) provide stands of nature in UWPs, wherein visitors’ emotions related to the enjoyment of CES values can be assessed through analyzing the facial expressions of visitors. In this study, a total of 98 UWPs were selected as study stands in Jiangxi, where a total of 1749 photographs showing facial expressions were obtained from Sina Weibo for local visitors experiencing UGS and UBS in 2021. The CES of UBS were evaluated at a widely used price of USD 881 ha−1 yr−1, and those of UGS were evaluated at USD 1583 ha−1 yr−1. The averaged CES values were estimated to be USD 941.26 and 39.54 thousand yr−1 for UGS and UBS per UWP in Jiangxi, respectively. The large number of UGS in an UWP had no relationship with the examined facial expressions; however, areas of UBS and, accordingly, the CES values therein, can both be perceived and exposed as positive emotions. CES in UBS only accounted for lower than 5% of that in a UWP, whereas those in UGS together explained over 95%. Overall, people smiled more when perceiving the values of services in UBS of UWPs than when experiencing UGS.

A tag is worth a thousand pictures: A framework for an empirically grounded typology of relational values through social media

Environmental values depend on social-ecological interactions and, in turn, influence the production of the underlying biophysical ecosystems. Understanding the nuanced nature of the values that humans ascribe to the environment is thus a key frontier for environmental science and planning. The development of many of these values depends on social-ecological interactions, such as outdoor recreation, landscape aesthetic appreciation or educational experiences with and within nature that can be articulated through the framework of cultural ecosystem services (CES). However, the non-material and intangible nature of CES has challenged previous attempts to assess the multiple and subjective values that people attach to them. In particular, this study focuses on assessing relational values ascribed to CES, here defined as values resonating with core principles of justice, reciprocity, care, and responsibility towards humans and more-than-humans. Building on emerging approaches for inferring relational CES values through social media (SM) images, this research explores the additional potential of a combined analysis of both the visual and textual content of SM data. To do so, we developed an inductive, empirically grounded coding protocol as well as a values typology that could be iteratively tested and verified by three different researchers to improve the consistency and replicability of the assessment. As a case study, we collected images and texts shared on the photo-sharing platform Flickr between 2004 and 2017 that were geotagged within the peri-urban park of Collserola, at the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. Results reveal a wide spectrum of nine CES values within the park boundaries that show positive and negative correlations among each other, providing useful information for landscape planning and management. Moreover, the study highlights the need for spatial, temporal and demographic analysis, as well as for supervised machine learning techniques to further leverage SM data into contextual and just decision-making and planning.

Assessing the Cultural Ecosystem Services Value of Protected Areas Considering Stakeholders' Preferences and Trade-Offs-Taking the Xin'an River Landscape Corridor Scenic Area as an Example.

Improving the accuracy of cultural ecosystem services (CESs) value assessment and paying more attention to the preferences and trade-offs of stakeholders in the administration of CESs are of vital importance for achieving resilient ecosystem management. Combining methodologies from sociology (Q method) and economics (choice experiment), an assessment framework of CESs is introduced to examine stakeholders' preferences and willingness to pay to participate in CESs in protected areas so as to explore how the value of CESs in protected areas can be optimized. The results show that the selection of CESs by stakeholders reflects certain synergies and trade-offs. Visitors can be classified as preferring humanistic-natural recreation, aesthetic-sense of place, or environmental education according to the factor ranking of the Q method. Visitors have a higher willingness to pay for humanistic heritage and a lower willingness to pay for sense of place experience, which can be measured at $6.55 per visit and $0.96 per visit, respectively. This indicates that the local customs and characteristics should be further explored and promoted through traditional festival celebrations and farming activities in further development of protected areas, apart from protecting local cultural heritages such as Huizhou ancient villages and halls. Furthermore, it is also necessary to actively explore the synergistic development of CESs, promote social participation, raise stakeholders' awareness of available services, manage visitors and stakeholders from a demand perspective, and promote the realization of the value of ecological products in protected areas.

Effectively enhancing perceptions of cultural ecosystem services: A case study of a karst cultural ecosystem

The role of cultural ecosystem services (CES) is vital to consider when developing ecological sustainable development policies that can improve the well-being of humans. Research on CES has increased in recent years; however, few studies have explored the complex mechanisms driving perceptions of CES and the factors influencing those perceptions. In areas with unique landforms and fragile ecological environments, this type of research is difficult and rare. To address this research gap, this focuses on a typical karst area Guilin Xingping in China, evaluating residents' perceptions of local CES, and applying qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to explore the driving mechanism behind those perceptions. We found that the satisfaction of material needs is a prerequisite and basis for further improving residents' spiritual perceptions and pursuits. Residents' socio-economic level, understanding of resource importance, and economic value determine whether residents can fully perceive the value of CES. Optimizing the ability of managers, improving relevant systems, and improving the experience with and understanding of ecosystems have a more than 50% probability of improving perceptions related to CES. The research shows that the combination of multiple antecedents can achieve a high level of perceptions related to CES. Managers can refer to the best path for policy regulation based on the actual situation. Finally, this study provides a new policy scheme for promoting ecological sustainable development and improving residents' well-being, and can provide insights to inform the sustainable development of other karst areas.

What does nature feel like? Using embodied walking interviews to discover cultural ecosystem services

The development of cultural ecosystem services (CES) concept has progressed beyond the common categories of economic benefits from tourism and recreation, and yet definitions of CES remain vague and often shallow. It is necessary to develop methodologies that can more fully express the depth of meaning of non-material benefits humans receive from nature to both strengthen the conceptual foundation of CES, and to support the evaluation, management, and decision-making processes pertaining to protected areas and other environments. This study demonstrates how embodied interviews, conducted with informants while walking in nature, capture real-time intuitive and grounded perceptions of, and reactions to, four different ecosystem types and their associated services. The results provide a deeper and more nuanced understanding of diverse human-nature relationships and reflect two distinct groups of CES values or themes: general (common across research sites) and local (site-specific). The twelve General CES include cognitive and psychological services, among them calmness and newness, heightened imagination and curiosity, increased energy and motivation, and gaining new perspectives. Local themes differed from one ecosystem to another and included more biodiversity- and geodiversity-related values pertaining to local species and geology, as well as more sensory-based experiences.

Classifying the content of social media images to support cultural ecosystem service assessments using deep learning models

Crowdsourced social media data has become popular for assessing cultural ecosystem services (CES). Nevertheless, social media data analyses in the context of CES can be time consuming and costly, particularly when based on the manual classification of images or texts shared by people. The potential of deep learning for automating the analysis of crowdsourced social media content is still being explored in CES research. Here, we use freely available deep learning models, i.e., Convolutional Neural Networks, for automating the classification of natural and human (e.g., species and human structures) elements relevant to CES from Flickr and Wikiloc images. Our approach is developed for Peneda-Gerês (Portugal) and then applied to Sierra Nevada (Spain). For Peneda-Gerês, image classification showed promising results (F1-score ca. 80%), highlighting a preference for aesthetics appreciation by social media users. In Sierra Nevada, even though model performance decreased, it was still satisfactory (F1-score ca. 60%), indicating a predominance of people’s pursuit for cultural heritage and spiritual enrichment. Our study shows great potential from deep learning to assist in the automated classification of human-nature interactions and elements from social media content and, by extension, for supporting researchers and stakeholders to decode CES distributions, benefits, and values.

Visitor’s Willingness to Pay for Cultural Ecosystem Services in Bangladesh: An Assessment for Lawachara National Park, a Biodiversity Hotspot

The valuation of natural ecosystems helps policymakers to allocate adequate resources for the provision of ecosystem services they provide. Cultural ecosystem services are the non-material benefits we obtain from nature, which include but are not limited to recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, physical and mental health benefits. They are essential for a proper sense of a place, human health, and wellbeing. We quantified the recreational and other non-material benefits of Lawachara National Park (LNP), one of the oldest and most diverse forest protected areas and tourist attractions in northeast Bangladesh. A Modified Travel Cost Method (MTCM) was applied for quantifying the recreational and other non-material values of LNP. Altogether 309 respondents were interviewed, covering both peak season and slack season. In our MTCM, we considered several additional factors, unlike the commonly used Travel Cost Method (TCM). The value of cultural ecosystem services of LNP was estimated to be Taka 476.70 million and Taka 476.44 million per annum using MTCM and TCM, respectively. The value estimated using MTCM was marginally higher than the value estimated using TCM and was due to the additional variables we considered in our modified approach. We believe our estimates using MTCM will guide policymakers to properly value natural ecosystems and facilitate adequate resource allocation for ecotourism in LNP and elsewhere.

The Strategy of Coastal Eco-Tourism Based on Cultural Ecosystem Services Approach: A Case Study in Ciletuh Bay

Ciletuh Bay has a natural magnificence that attracts local and foreign tourists. Tourist interest was reflected by the many visits demanding the government manage it properly to achieve social, economic, and ecological sustainability. Research on the assessment of cultural ecosystem services in Ciletuh Bay has not been carried out. At the same time, this is necessary for policymakers to maintain sustainable Ciletuh Bay coastal ecotourism. This study aims to estimate the value of cultural ecosystem services in Ciletuh Bay in two ways. The first method is assessing the balance of supply and demand for cultural ecosystem services that adopt the Burkhard Model, namely through individual preferences for the beauty of several types of landscapes in Ciletuh Bay. The second assessment is an economic valuation using the travel cost method (TCM). The results showed that the balance of supply and demand for cultural ecosystem services in Ciletuh Bay contained several types of landscapes in unstable conditions. The economic value of Ciletuh Bay coastal ecotourism is IDR 862,640,124,311.00/year or IDR 77,911,861.00/ha/year.