Natural Values Research Articles

The Humanistic Process and Spatial Practice of Chinese Zhenshan 鎮山 Worship

The “Zhenshan” 鎮山 (which means a mountain that guards a certain territory) system is based on the traditional Chinese view of nature, which formed and developed through a long period of Confucian humanistic construction. It is the typical representation of China’s nature-oriented worship space, and it has unique spatial order and spatial significance in the world’s sacred mountain worship. The excavation of the spatial characteristics of Zhenshan worship and its network of humanistic meanings is an important part of research that aims to discover the traditional Chinese values of nature, religious views, and Chinese worship space. Based on the analysis of graphic historical materials and a digital chronicle literature review, this paper quantitatively analyzes the historical information of Zhenshan and summarizes the process of change from the birth of the concept of Zhenshan in the Zhou dynasty to the formation of the sacrificial system in the Han dynasty and its gradual localization after the Tang and Song dynasties with an analysis of its spatial pattern and characteristics of worship. The results show that Zhenshan is one of the typical cultural symbols of the transformation of Chinese mountain worship into the unity of government and religion. And it is a typical product of Confucianism, in which the worship of nature in China is integrated into the political system, and its worship space is rooted in the national, regional, and urban spaces at multiple levels. The Zhenshan system, in the course of its dynamic development, has formed two types of worship space: temple sacrificial and metaphorical constraint, constructing a Chinese worship space based on the order of nature, which is distinctly different from the inward-looking religious space of the West and the sacred mountain worship space formed around the religion of the “supreme god”.

ЦЕНА ПРИРОДЫ: ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКАЯ ОЦЕНКА ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ РЕСУРСОВ И ЕЕ РОЛЬ В УСТОЙЧИВОМ РАЗВИТИИ

The article is devoted to the assessment of environmental resources and their role in sustainable development. In the modern world, awareness of the importance of nature conservation and sustainable use of its resources is becoming increasingly relevant. The features of the economic assessment of natural resources and ecosystem services are considered, as well as the principles and methods of determining their value are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the problems related to the need to integrate the economic assessment of nature into decision-making processes at the level of public policy and business. The importance of taking into account the ecological value of natural resources and ecosystem services in economic models and management practices is emphasized. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop mechanisms that contribute to a more accurate and objective assessment of the value of nature and its consideration in sustainable development.

Thermal and environmental analysis of an infectious medical waste-to-energy

This work presents an infectious medical waste-to-energy (IMWtE) thermal and environmental analysis using combined heat and power (CHP) technology. Steam sterilization can be operated with an infectious medical waste (IMW) of 375 kg/h⋅unit, a maximum per day of 12,000 kg/day for double sterilization units, and a running time of 16 h/day. The CHP system uses a dried IMW of 797 kg/h, generating a power output of 128.98 kWe, providing a drying heat of 382.91 kW, and achieving an overall system efficiency of 8.45 %. Results are obtained for a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the IMWtE by CHP system technology. The endpoint effectiveness comprises considerations of human health: 2.83E+01 DALY, ecosystem quality is represented value of: 9.32E+00 Species⋅y, and natural resource value of: 1.08E+06 USD, all of these are fundamentally linked to the utilization of steel, copper, paint, and gypsum. The LCA impacts are primarily due to the operation phase (93 %), with the smaller contribution of the decommissioning phase (4 %), and the construction phase (3 %), respectively.

Optimal regimes for algorithm-assisted human decision-making

Summary We consider optimal regimes for algorithm-assisted human decision-making. Such regimes are decision functions of measured pre-treatment variables and, by leveraging natural treatment values, enjoy a superoptimality property whereby they are guaranteed to outperform conventional optimal regimes. When there is unmeasured confounding, the benefit of using superoptimal regimes can be considerable. When there is no unmeasured confounding, superoptimal regimes are identical to conventional optimal regimes. Furthermore, identification of the expected outcome under superoptimal regimes in nonexperimental studies requires the same assumptions as identification of value functions under conventional optimal regimes when the treatment is binary. To illustrate the utility of superoptimal regimes, we derive identification and estimation results in a common instrumental variable setting. We use these derivations to analyse examples from the optimal regimes literature, including a case study of the effect of prompt intensive care treatment on survival.

THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF LIFE IS THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. It is impossible to imagine solving modern environmental problems without studying the problems of environmental ethics and moral philosophy. Publications on environmental ethics and ethics of responsibility are available from H. Jonas, O. Leopold, and A. Schweitzer. They create an ontological ethics of values, where existence and preservation of existence occupy a central place. The concept of preservation of existence is supported by: A. Schopenhauer, A. Schweitzer, T. Mayer. Problems of the interaction of environmental ethics and science are put forward by O. Geffe, R. Holfeld, Y. Rau, I. Vogel and others. Ukrainian philosophers explore the principles of responsible politics, environmental ethics, philosophical problems of environmental education, philosophy of education: T. Hardashuk, O. Bazaluk, V. Baranivskyi, H. Berehova, V. Gur, A. Yermolenko, Z. Samchuk, M. Kiselyov, V. Krysachenko, K. Korsak, T. Chornoshtan and others. But regardless the significant contribution of philosophers, questions of environmental ethics, ethics for environmental education always need consideration. The research objective. Show the necessity of the concept of ecovitalism for environmental ethics and its methodological foundations. Consider the formation of environmental ethics on the basis of the absolute value of life, which has an impact on the formation of life-value orientations of modern people, the implementation of the main values of environmental ethics in practice. Realize that the future of humanity depends on whether it realizes the need for environmental ethics, environmental responsibility, ecologically appropriate behavior to preserve life on our planet. The statement of basic materials. The article examines the concept of ecovitalism, which is the basis of environmental ethics, primarily as an ecological support for life, focused not simply on the preservation of its natural foundations, but on the historically formed social attitude to nature as a value. At the same time, human activity, as a morally regulated life activity, is not based on purely natural determinations, but in a new quality of the natural-historical process, the basis of which is not nature itself, but the value of nature as a derivative of social progress. This gives grounds for asserting that the absolute value of life has becomes the main basis of modern environmental ethics. It is shown that environmental ethics is an important aspect in the formation of environmental education and creates new values for the preservation of human existence.

Wicked problem of improving fishery livelihoods through capacity building

Development programs can train fishers in value-adding but factors influencing who is likely to benefit are not well understood. Small-scale fishers worldwide often fall short increasing the value of their catch and wellbeing benefits from their harvests. Here, we sought to improve technical capacity of sea cucumber fishers in postharvest processing and examine intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape long-term livelihood impacts. Manuals, videos and village-based workshops were used to train hundreds of fishers in 29 villages across seven island regions in Fiji. Our linear mixed models found that trained fishers spent more time processing their catch and were more likely to report increased sale prices. However, the fishery was in decline and so fishers’ weekly incomes did not improve overall. The capacity building led to gender-transformative outcomes by motivating women to increase catch rates and it improved their weekly fishery income. Perceived changes in trading prices and economic dependence on the fishery varied regionally, implying inconsistent trader behaviour. Our study reveals that improving fishery livelihoods can be a “wicked problem” involving a complexity of external factors that hinder livelihood impacts. Capacity-building of fishers was insufficient on its own to markedly improve wellbeing. Income also depended on the fishery stocks, equitable behaviour of traders and access of fishers to raw materials for postharvest processing. Development programs should consider a holistic approach through partnerships with institutions to improve the management of natural resources, value chains and technical capacity of fishers.

A Ferricyanide Anion-Philic Interface Induced by Boron Species within Carbon Framework for Efficient Charge Storage in Supercapacitors.

Carbon materials with hierarchical porous structures hold great potential for redox electrolyte-enhanced supercapacitors. However, restricted by the intrinsic inert and nonpolar characteristics of carbon, the energy barrier of anchoring redox electrolytes on the pore walls is relatively high. As such, the redox process at the interface less occurs, and the rate of mass transfer is impaired, further leading to a poor electrochemical performance. Here, a ferricyanide anion-philic interface made of in situ inserted boron species into carbon rings is constructed for enhanced charge storage in supercapacitors. Profiting from the unique component-driven effects, the polar anchoring sites on the pore wall can be built to grasp the charged redox ferricyanide anion from the bulk electrolyte and promote the redox process; the dynamics process is fastened correspondingly. Especially, the boron atoms in BC2O and BCO2 units with higher positive natural bond orbital values in the carbon skeleton are pinpointed as intrinsic active sites to bind the negatively charged nitrogen atoms in the ferricyanide anion via electrostatic interaction, confirmed by density functional theoretical calculations. This will suppress the shuttle and diffusion effects of the ferricyanide anion from the surface of the electrode to the bulk electrolyte. Finally, the well-designed PC-3 with high content of BC2O and BCO2 units can reach 1099 F g-1 at 2 mV s-1, which is a more than 2-fold increase over boron-free units of carbon (428 F g-1). The work offers a novel version for designing high-performance carbon materials with unique yet reaction species-philic effects.

Agriculturally Improved and Semi-Natural Permanent Grasslands Provide Complementary Ecosystem Services in Swedish Boreal Landscapes

Permanent grasslands cover more than a third of European agricultural land and are important for a number of ecosystem services. Permanent grasslands used for agriculture are broadly separated into agriculturally improved and semi-natural grasslands. High cultural and natural values linked to semi-natural grasslands are well documented. However, in boreal and hemi-boreal agricultural landscapes, less information is available about the areal coverage of improved permanent grasslands and their role for ecosystem service provision and biodiversity. In Sweden, grasslands are administratively separated into semi-natural (i.e., land that cannot be ploughed) or arable (i.e., improved temporary or permanent grassland on land that can be ploughed). We used data from a large-scale environmental monitoring program to show that improved permanent grassland (i.e., permanent grasslands on arable fields) may be a previously unrecognised large area of the agricultural land use in Sweden. We show that improved permanent grasslands together with semi-natural grasslands are both comparable but also complementary providers of a range of ecosystem services (plant species richness, plant resources for pollinators and forage amount for livestock production). However, as expected, semi-natural grasslands with the highest-level AESs (special values) show high species richness values for vascular plants, plants indicating traditional semi-natural management conditions and red-listed species. Improved permanent grasslands on arable fields are likely an underestimated but integral part of the agricultural economy and ecological function in boreal landscapes that together with high nature value semi-natural grasslands provide a broad range of ecosystem services.

Pendampingan Masyarakat Pesisir sebagai Trigger Wisata Lokal Potensial

In the context of local tourism development in Tapulaga Village, the achievement and potential in the tourism sector, as well as the importance of sustainability, are the main focus. The active participation of local communities is the key to success in developing sustainable tourism that preserves the environment and the welfare of children, while maintaining the cultural and natural values of the village. International cooperation is important in this effort, although it also brings challenges. The necessary follow-up includes the development of fishermen's activity-based tourism, training in tourism crafts and marketing, and environmental policy supervision by the village government. Active community participation in nature conservation and child nutrition monitoring is also emphasized. All these efforts must be sustainable and require cooperation between relevant parties, both from the village government and the community. The development of local tourism is a great opportunity for the village, focusing on ecological sustainability, economic empowerment, community welfare, and good natural resource management for a better future.

Geochemical and U-Pb isotopic insights into uranium (U) enrichment in the soil around a nuclear fuel element plant, in Southwest China

To assess the impact of nuclear fuel element processing on uranium(U) in the soil environment, a geochemical survey was conducted. The survey provided data on U concentration, speciation, Th/U ratio, and U and Pb isotopic composition in the soil around a nuclear fuel processing plant in Southwest China, which has been operational since 1965, to reveal the enrichment status and sources of U in the soil. The concentrations of Th and Pb in the soil were also compared. The average U concentration was 1.01-1.43 times that of the local background, and U existed primarily as residual U. The enrichment factor value indicates that U is slightly enriched in the soil. The Th/U ratio was higher than the crustal ratio and the world soil average value, indicating that some of the U in the soil has been lost due to surface runoff. The 235U/238U ratio distribution shows that a certain amount of 235U-enriched particles have sedimentation in the downwind direction of the plant soil, which results in a higher 235U/238U ratio in this direction. However, in general, the 235U/238U ratios were observed to be typical natural values. The 207Pb/206Pb ratio indicates that the U in the U ore enters the soil during nuclear fuel processing.

Thermal Energy Storage Heat Exchanger Design: Overcoming Low Thermal Conductivity Limitations of Phase-Change Materials

Abstract Recently, there has been a renewed interest in solid-to-liquid phase-change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage (TES) solutions in response to ambitious decarbonization goals. While PCMs have very high thermal storage capacities, their typically low thermal conductivities impose limitations on energy charging and discharging rates. Extensive research efforts have focused on improving PCM thermal conductivity through the incorporation of additives. However, this approach presents challenges such as achieving uniform mixtures, maintaining high latent heat, and cost. Alternatively, it has been demonstrated that, in this study, reducing the length scale of the PCM-encasement thickness can eliminate the low thermal conductivity effect of PCMs. To illustrate this concept, a one-dimensional PCM slab was numerically simulated. The thickness of the slab was varied to represent dimensions found in flow passages of compact heat exchangers, and the heat transfer coefficient of the heating fluid was varied to represent lower and upper bounds while also including nominal values encountered in air-to-air heat exchangers. The thermal conductivity was parametrically varied from the natural value of the PCM to simulated enhanced values (potentially achieved through additives) of up to 400 times larger. Results show that reducing the PCM-encasement thickness yields substantially better performance than by improving the thermal conductivity, thereby demonstrating the potential for compact heat exchanger design to overcome the PCM thermal conductivity limitations.

VISUAL PERCEPTION TOWARDS LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS IN PROMOTING RESTORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS: A CASE OF GAMUDA GARDEN, RAWANG

Rapid urbanisation led to decreasing rate of physical and mental health due to the hectic lifestyle living in a city. However, being in natural environment setting does provide a restorative experience for the visitors especially among urban community. It is very important to identify the landscape elements that stimulate brains and deliver relaxing situation to park visitors. This study employed a Q methodology to identify the landscape elements that successfully provide restorative environment setting for visitors in Gamuda Garden, Rawang, Malaysia. Photographs of five landscape elements that believed to provide restorative experience were captured and respondents were asked to rank order the photos according to its importance in providing restorative environment settings. The data collected were analysed using PQMethod software where factors were flagged, rotated and factor analysis were constructed. Four themes were generated which are tension relief, social value, natural value and comfort value. This study highlights the identification of landscape elements that provide restorative settings that should be taken into consideration in urban park planning and management.

A healing place: Reimagining the modern botanic garden as a physic garden

AbstractI have long promoted botanic gardens as a potent mix of nature, culture and science. Triggered by the COVID‐19 pandemic and the community's changing relationship with outdoor spaces, I want to add another vital element: the botanic garden as a reimagined physic garden. Not just a collection of medicinal plants, but a healing place. The value of nature, of gardens, and particularly of botanic gardens, for keeping us in “good health” is, if not self‐evident, then progressively confirmed by social research. The modern botanic garden as a physic garden embraces the creation and further development of botanic gardens in places where there are more people than “natural” diversity of plants; encourages a medical approach to addressing complex problems like climate change—targeting the root causes first, curing if possible, or if not, relieving symptoms and build resistance; favors a triaging approach to conservation for more effective use of resources; and provides plant rescue and restoration as the equivalent of a human Intensive Care Unit, with “plant ambulances” dispatched after natural (including human‐induced) disasters. Our landscapes and collections are for many their first contact with a complex plant environment—nature. That contact is also good for our health.

Научное обоснование среднегодовой предельно допустимой концентрации ванадия пентоксида в атмосферном воздухе по критериям допустимого риска

Relevance of this study is determined by the sanitary-epidemiological legislation of the Russian Federation with stipulated requirements to create hygiene standards for environmental factors ensuring their safety for people. These hygienic standards should guarantee absence of impermissible lifetime health risks. Divanadium pentoxide is a chemical that should be mandatorily regulated in ambient air under long-term exposure due to its wide prevalence and high toxicity. An average annual MPL for divanadium pentoxide was established by using systemic analysis of research literature and regulatory documents. According to selection results, three key epidemiological studies were taken for further analysis. They provided evidence of adverse effects produced by divanadium pentoxide on human health (the respiratory organs in particular) under chronic inhalation exposure. When analyzing a study design, we paid special attention to description of observation groups, values of exposure and nature of its effects, adverse health outcomes caused by exposure to divanadium pentoxide as well as to a type and a value of a point of departure. We calculated a value of the total (complex) uncertainty factor in order to establish an average annual maximum permissible level of the analyzed chemical. As a result, we suggest a scientifically substantiated (among other things, as per permissible health risk levels) average annual maximum permissible level for divanadium pentoxide, which equals 0.0001 mg/m3. This level is safe for human health under lifetime exposure. It is noteworthy that this level corresponds to ‘low uncertainty’, which indicates its high safety for human health.

Scientific substantiation of average annual maximum permissible level of vanadium pentoxide in ambient air as per permissible health risk

Relevance of this study is determined by the sanitary-epidemiological legislation of the Russian Federation with stipulated requirements to create hygiene standards for environmental factors ensuring their safety for people. These hygienic standards should guarantee absence of impermissible lifetime health risks. Divanadium pentoxide is a chemical that should be mandatorily regulated in ambient air under long-term exposure due to its wide prevalence and high toxicity. An average annual MPL for divanadium pentoxide was established by using systemic analysis of research literature and regulatory documents. According to selection results, three key epidemiological studies were taken for further analysis. They provided evidence of adverse effects produced by divanadium pentoxide on human health (the respiratory organs in particular) under chronic inhalation exposure. When analyzing a study design, we paid special attention to description of observation groups, values of exposure and nature of its effects, adverse health outcomes caused by exposure to divanadium pentoxide as well as to a type and a value of a point of departure. We calculated a value of the total (complex) uncertainty factor in order to establish an average annual maximum permissible level of the analyzed chemical. As a result, we suggest a scientifically substantiated (among other things, as per permissible health risk levels) average annual maximum permissible level for divanadium pentoxide, which equals 0.0001 mg/m3. This level is safe for human health under lifetime exposure. It is noteworthy that this level corresponds to ‘low uncertainty’, which indicates its high safety for human health.

A Comparative Study on Speciation and Availability Risk of Toxic and Potentially Toxic Elements in Different Groups of Sediments in the Dar-E-Allo Copper Mine, SE Iran

ABSTRACT The present study has been performed to evaluate the prospective effects of toxic and potentially toxic elements (TPTEs) on different groups of sediments in mining area. Fractionation of metal and metalloid elements (As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mo and Zn) was studied using a modified Community Bureau of Reference (mBCR) sequential extraction procedure in the sediments collected at five sedimentary systems. Compared to natural background values the enrichment factor (EF) of TPTEs follow the order of Cu > Mo > Cd > Zn > Co > As > Fe. Comparison with sediments quality indicators (including: sediment pollution index (SPI), pollution load index (PLI), and modified contamination degree (mCd)) revealed, that leached sediment containing secondary phases (S5 and S6), sediments containing ferric compounds (S7 and S8) and then evaporitic deposits (S9) are considered as the most contaminated sediment with a high to ultra-high degree of contamination, Subsequently based on the average indices values for sedimentary systems, the descending order is as follows: S5> S4 > S2 > S3 > S1. This issue confirm that sedimentary systems of mining area are heavily contaminated by toxic and potentially toxic elements and were not found within the guideline acceptable values. The potential ecological risk index (PERI) revealed a very high risk level for Cu with a peak in sediments containing sulfide phases. Speciation results in the investigated sediments indicated that the labile form has a considerable role in the release of all TPTEs except for Mo, Fe, and to somewhat As. Accordingly, based on the risk of elements bioavailability, the descending order is as follows: S9 > S4 > S5 > S6 > S7 > S3 > S8 > S2 > S1. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the presence of lithogenic minerals with low bioavailable elements in the samples (S1, S2, S3, S4, S7 and S8) and secondary minerals with high bioavailable elements in samples (S5, S6 and S9). Multivariate statistical analysis (Pearson’s correlation analysis, PCA, and CA) suggested that the sources of TPTEs contamination were mainly anthropogenic along with the geogenic sources in the study area.

Conceptualising Sustainability as the Pursuit of Life

AbstractComplex and urgent challenges including climate change and the significant decline in biodiversity provide a broad agenda for interdisciplinary scholars interested in the implications facing businesses, humanity, and other species. Within this context of sustainability, persistent conflicts between key paradigms create substantial barriers against—but also opportunities for—developing new conceptual approaches and theoretical models to understand and respond to these critical issues. Here, I revisit paradigmatic tensions to assess their impact on research and debate on sustainability, ethics, and business. Drawing on relational ontology and values of nature that recognise humanity’s tight embeddedness within the planetary ecosystem, I examine how conceptualising sustainability as the pursuit of life might generate new insights for research and practice into the wider transformation needed to sustain and restore socioecological systems. The aim here, however, is not to reconcile these paradigmatic tensions but instead use them as a fruitful lens for examining the implications for sustainability, while acknowledging the inherent ethical dilemmas for individuals, organisations, and society.

Can mulching or composting be applied to maintain semi-natural grassland managed for biodiversity?

Traditional, extensive management systems in grasslands have played a fundamental role in the formation, maintenance and conservation of grassland of high natural value. Contemporary processes in the agricultural economy make this type of management unprofitable. Simplified management systems are implemented as part of agricultural and environmental programmes and in protected areas, but these can cause changes in botanical composition. An experiment was conducted for six years on grassland in the Carpathian Mountains to compare mulching and compost application with late cutting and biomass removal. In the conditions of mountain grassland of medium fertility, the level of biomass and the species composition of the vegetation were the same following mulching as in the case of cutting and biomass removal. Mulching was only found to affect the temperature of the topsoil. Compost application caused a significant increase in the amount of biomass. The species composition was the same as for the other management types, but there were changes in the proportions of individual species and functional groups. High grasses were dominant, while the proportion of legume plants was small. Moreover, the N:P ratio was lower following the use of compost, indicating a shift from P limitation to N limitation. Mulching can be used as a simplified means of management in the case of certain types of grassland communities, but its effects must be monitored. Compost application would necessitate modification of other elements of management, e.g. increased frequency of cutting.

Spatial variability and risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in the effluent of Kumasi Abattoir [sbnd] Ghana

Hypothesis-driven experiments have been conducted to explore the spatial variability and potential ecological risk indices (RIs) of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in untreated in situ effluent continuously discharged downstream by the Kumasi Abattoir Ghana (KAG). The study focused on seven PTEs nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and iron (Fe), based on these hypotheses: (i) Variations in PTE levels may be significant in the effluent; (ii) Comparative RI assessments based on the three background values natural background values (NBVs) for freshwater, maximum admissible concentrations (MACs), and reference values (RVs) provide objective evaluations; and (iii) PTEs’ cluster distances are linked to RIs. Effluent samples were randomly collected in quintuplicates from the drainage receptacle and analyzed using standard methods. The spatial variability of PTEs was investigated using divisive hierarchical cluster analysis (DHCA). The RIs and their uncertainties were computed using Hakanson's equations and standard deviation (SD). PTE dispersion was analyzed using the coefficient of variation (CV). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to test for the significance of hypotheses 1 and 2, complemented by Scheffé's post-hoc test where significance was detected. Hypothesis 3 was investigated by analyzing PTE cluster distances and RIs based on Pearson's correlation metric. The DHCA produced two clusters Cd–Cu–Mn–Ni and Zn-(Fe)-Pb. The CVs (< 50 %) indicated medium variability, relatively uniform spatial distributions, and minimal fluctuations. High to very high RIs ± SDs obtained were 300 ± 57.5 (MACs), 2900 ± 500 (RVs), and 7666 ± 2980 (NBVs). The ANOVA yielded significant results for both hypotheses, while moderate to high correlations were obtained for the third hypothesis. While RIs provided compelling evidence of inimical effluent, the study highlights the influence of background values on RIs. It further suggests that the PTE cluster distances may be used as surrogates for the RIs.

Planetary health values and their implications for sustainability governance: Case study in the City of Blue Mountains, Australia

Planetary health asserts that human health is contingent on the health of ecosystems. While the field has grown significantly since 2015, no known research has tested the expediency of planetary health as an applied values framework in local sustainability governance. This article seeks to address this gap by answering: how useful is planetary health for understanding the way citizens value nature and how nature shapes their health and wellbeing? What are the implications for using planetary health as a sustainability governance framing? Blue Mountains City Council is arguably the first local government globally to adopt a planetary health approach to its strategic framing of sustainability. This makes the Blue Mountains, Australia, an internationally relevant case study for contributing original knowledge about the usefulness of planetary health for sustainability governance. Through this case study, I undertook a face-to-face survey (n = 85) in March and April 2022 with Blue Mountains residents on their values associated with planetary health. I used the IPBES Assessment for Diverse Values of Nature as the basis for thematic analysis of the survey data. The article presents a first outline of residents’ planetary health values. Planetary health was found to be an effective means of understanding diverse nature-health values. Local governments can consider using planetary health in its strategic planning, outcomes monitoring and financial reporting. Future research can consider how planetary health values are prioritised in respect to other values framings and improve knowledge of planetary health by understanding of how people with diverse life experiences value nature-health relationships.