Assessing and mapping cultural ecosystem services at community level in the Colombian Amazon

Nature's contribution to poverty alleviation, human wellbeing and the SDGs

Millions of households globally rely on uncultivated ecosystems for their livelihoods. However, much of the understanding about the broader contribution of uncultivated ecosystems to human wellbeing is still based on a series of small-scale studies due to limited availability of large-scale datasets. We pooled together 11 comparable datasets comprising 232 settlements and 10,971 households in ten low-and middle-income countries, representing forest, savanna and coastal ecosystems to analyse how uncultivated nature contributes to multi-dimensional wellbeing and how benefits from nature are distributed between households. The resulting dataset integrates secondary data on rural livelihoods, multidimensional human wellbeing, household demographics, resource tenure and social-ecological context, primarily drawing on nine existing household surveys and their associated contextual information together with selected variables, such as travel time to cities, population density, local area GDP and land use and land cover from existing global datasets. This integrated dataset has been archived with ReShare (UK Data Service) and will be useful for further analyses on nature-wellbeing relationships on its own or in combination with similar datasets.

Micro-agents' perception of landscape services and their multi-level driving influences in the headwater area of the Qiantang River, China

Landscape services are an important basis for maintaining regional ecological security patterns, environmental health, and sustainable socio-economic development. As an important link between regional ecosystems and socio-economic development, micro-agents' production and life as well as their cognition and perception of landscape services notably impact the maintenance of multi-functional landscape development. This paper examines 9 rural communities in different areas and different development types in the headwater area of the Qiantang River in China, China's national key ecological functional area, in a typical case study. Based on farmer interviews and household surveys, this paper explores the changes of micro-agents' diversification perception of landscape services from 2010 to 2020. A multiple linear regression method is used to construct an index model of agents' perception of diversification of landscape services and to analyze the driving factors influencing changes. The results showed that (1) from 2010 to 2020, the micro-agent perception index of the diversity of farmland, forest, garden, and grassland landscape services increased by 0.46, 0.43, 0.67, and 0.51, respectively. Among them, the micro-agents' diversified perception of forest, farmland, garden, and grassland landscape services decreased in sequence. (2) From 2010 to 2020, in regard to the importance and vulnerability of landscape services, the difference between the perception levels of farmland landscape support services and grassland landscape regulation services in the agricultural production core area was the largest. In management and rationality perception of landscape services, the difference in the perception between grassland landscape service ecological and economic development areas was the largest. (3) Individual and family characteristics are important factors affecting the diversification perception of landscape services, while the natural environment and resource endowment impose negligible influences. Environmental policies only affect the diversification of grassland perception. The research results can provide a reference for maintaining regional landscape services, improving the well-being of micro-agents, and promoting the enhancement in ecological services and regional collaborative development.

Ethnoichthyology and Ethnotaxonomy of the Kichwa Indigenous People of Arawanu (Arajuno), in the Ecuadorian Amazon

The Amazon Basin is home to a great number of Indigenous nationalities that have coevolved with aquatic habitats and fish resulting in a precise traditional ecological knowledge. Nevertheless, this biocultural heritage is threatened by the degradation of rivers and fisheries, and cultural erosion. This research was designed and carried out in the community of Arawanu (Arajuno in Spanish), in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and was requested by the local Kichwa people looking for guidance to gather, systematize and disseminate their ethnoichthyological knowledge. Data collection was carried out through participatory workshops using the pile sorting technique in group dynamics, to identify, name and classify local fish and compile biocultural information about them. From the Linnaean taxonomic perspective, 86 taxa were identified, included in 26 families, and corresponded with 16 Kichwa ethnofamilies and 58 ethnospecies. Five classification levels were identified: (I) Aycha: unique beginner–Animalia kingdom; (II) Yaku Aycha: life form–Pisces superclass; (III) Ayllukuna: ethnofamilies–Linnaean families; (IV) Ethnogenera–Linnaean genus; and (V) Ethnospecies–Linnaean species. A one-to-one correspondence was registered between 35 Kichwa ethnospecies and Linnean species, along with one case of over-differentiation and 21 cases of subdifferentiation (Type A: 7; Type B: 14). The Kichwa ethnoichthyological classification is multidimensional and considers attributes like skin and scales, fishbones and spines, meat quality, body shape, diet, and salience. Of the 58 ethnospecies, 38 were valued for consumption, while medicinal and spiritual uses were mentioned for 40 of them. The participatory work created a forum to discuss the value and threats to ichthyofauna and freshwater systems, enabled the dissemination of their biocultural heritage, and highlighted the cultural relevance of hydro-social ecosystems in their livelihood. The collected information may be critical to adapt local education systems to the Kichwa worldview and to pass down traditional ecological knowledge to future generations, fostering a respectful, careful and conscious relationship between humans and nature. Our results offer a solid and novel information compilation and practical guidance for participatory ethnobiological surveys. Additionally, the ethnobiological and the ethnotaxonomical information establishes the basis to develop sustainable fishing strategies and promote conservation of the local ichthyofauna.

Diverse perceptions of supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services offered by urban green spaces in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Understanding inhabitants' perceptions of cultural ecosystem services (CES) of urban green space will offer solutions to sustainability challenges. This study aimed to analyse the social perceptions of the supply and demand sides of CES in Dhaka City. A questionnaire-based social preference method was used. Questions in the survey concerned the respondents' satisfaction with green spaces, connected activities, limitations, CES preference and motivation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to the 405 surveyed questionnaire data to understand variation in respondents' opinions. Respondents were mostly dissatisfied with the quantity of green spaces. Respondents' family status and age influenced their satisfaction with green space quantity. Single and teenage respondents prefer green space for active recreational activities, whereas young and old respondents preferred passive kinds of recreational activities. Both space-related issues and respondents' barriers limited CES provisioning. This contextual factor particularly affected female, single and young respondents. Respondents most preferred CES was recreation. Respondents' gender, family status and age are drivers for differing perceptions of the green space-based CES. To develop sustainable city planning in the face of global environmental change, those divergent perceptions should be taken into consideration through urban development strategies. Moreover, understanding the supply and demand sides of CES help facilitate a more inclusive planning process to address urban sustainability issues.

Cultural Ecosystem Services: The Case of Coastal-Rural Area (Nemunas Delta and Curonian Lagoon, Lithuania)

The benefits or harms of external and internal consequences for the viability of ecosystems are revealed through the impact on the quality of human life. The issues of assessing these benefits or harms are significant for the whole society and are therefore analyzed from both theoretical and practical perspectives. The article seeks to theoretically examine the coherence between humans and ecosystems, ensuring the social and economic well-being of present and future generations in the context of cultural ecosystem services (CES). As well, the article seeks to present the empirical research, carried out on the possibilities of adapting human activities to CES in the specific area, i.e., coastal-rural area, evaluating the past, present and future CES potential in the Lithuanian coastal zone, Nemunas Delta and Curonian Lagoon in Lithuania. Elderships located near the Curonian Lagoon or within the protected area of the Nemunas Delta Regional Park were selected for the study. For this purpose, the empirical study involved representatives of different (public and private) sectors and stakeholders. The research was carried out in local tourism cultural centers and elderships with four group respondents (tourists, farmers, entrepreneurs, eldership employees). The research revealed the past and the current situation of CES potential and showed the possible CES potential future development directions. The article described the opportunities for the rural population (a potential supply of cultural ecosystems) to achieve diversification of economic activities and the needs of tourists (a potential demand for cultural ecosystems) to achieve service differentiation. Therefore, the recommendations have been formulated on how to exploit future CES of a specific territory by “employing” available natural resources, i.e., the ecosystems.

Exploring the linkage between the supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services in Loess Plateau, China: a case study from Shigou Township

Including cultural ecosystem services (ES) in the management of an ecosystem can improve the social acceptance and legitimacy of management decisions. In order to adapt to the inherently fragile ecological environment, the Loess Plateau has formed a unique land-use mode and rural cultural landscape, yet the research on the cultural ES in this area is limited. The study of cultural ES from the supply and demand perspective will contribute to realize the sustainable cultural ES supply and meet people's growing demand for a better life. This study conducted a questionnaire survey with 381 people in 42 villages of Shigou Township in the Loess Plateau to explore local residents' demand (perceived importance) of 8 types of cultural ES. The 5-point Likert scale was used to quantify the relative level of residents' demand of cultural ES. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlations between pairs of cultural ES. In addition, this study constructed the indicator system of cultural ES supply from two dimensions of cultural ES supply capacity and accessibility and used a redundancy analysis to explore the linkage between the cultural ES supply and demand. The results showed that residents had a higher demand for esthetics and sense of place, but lower demand for spiritual and religious in Shigou Township. There were significant and positive correlations between different types of cultural ES, and most of them were enjoyed in "bundles." Each type of cultural ES was related to different types of percentage land cover, and geographical distance played an important role in cultural ES supply. Last, we proposed that local residents' perceived importance of cultural ES should be included in decision-making to improve public support for ecosystem management, and managers should simultaneously pay attention to the supply capacity and accessibility of cultural ES to realize the sustainable cultural ES supply.

Pathways to Modelling Ecosystem Services within an Urban Metabolism Framework

Urbanisation poses new and complex sustainability challenges. Socio-economic activities drive material and energy flows in cities that influence the health of ecosystems inside and outside the urban system. Recent studies suggest that these flows, under the urban metabolism (UM) metaphor, can be extended to encompass the assessment of urban ecosystem services (UES). Advancing UM approaches to assess UES may be a valuable solution to these arising sustainability challenges, which can support urban planning decisions. This paper critically reviews UM literature related to the UES concept and identifies approaches that may allow or improve the assessment of UES within UM frameworks. We selected from the UM literature 42 studies that encompass UES aspects, and analysed them on the following key investigation themes: temporal information, spatial information, system boundary aspects and cross-scale indicators. The analysis showed that UES are rarely acknowledged in UM literature, and that existing UM approaches have limited capacity to capture the complexity of spatio-temporal and multi-scale information underpinning UES, which has hampered the implementation of operational decision support systems so far. We use these results to identify and illustrate pathways towards a UM-UES modelling approach. Our review suggests that cause–effect dynamics should be integrated with the UM framework, based on spatially-specific social, economic and ecological data. System dynamics can inform on the causal relationships underpinning UES in cities and, therefore, can help moving towards a knowledge base tool to support urban planners in addressing urban challenges.