Effects of climate-related environmental changes on non-material benefits from human-nature interactions: A literature review

Abstract

Despite growing evidence that climate-related environmental changes impact cultural ecosystem services (CES), a profound and nuanced understanding of such changes remains limited. This study aims to identify and characterize how climate-related changes affect human-nature interactions and related non-material benefits. Through a systematic literature review, we synthesize an interdisciplinary body of research by (1) characterizing the types of human-nature interactions affected, (2) recording the assessment approaches used, (3) relating environmental changes to changes in human-nature interactions and (4) categorizing climate-related impacts on non-material benefits. The 192 articles addressed mostly recreation (65%), cultural identity (30%), and aesthetic value (18%), assessing environmental changes influencing the opportunities for human-nature interactions (38%), socio-cultural aspects such as demand, benefits, values, practices, and goods (31%), and both environmental and socio-cultural aspects (31%). Most studies mentioned multiple environmental changes (57%), such as changes in species, populations and communities, weather patterns and climatic conditions, and changes in habitat and environmental quality. These changes had predominantly negative effects on non-material benefits (74% of 302 interactions across the studies), as well as neutral/undefined impacts (5.6%), positive (4.6%), or not significant impacts (4.3%). Mixed impacts were reported in 12% of the interactions, mostly mentioning negative impacts (97%). The impacts include changes in natural capacities, access and security, cultural practices and interactions, as well as spatial and temporal patterns, often resulting in a decline or even complete loss of benefits. To overcome conceptual and methodological limitations as well as to improve the consideration of climate-related impacts on non-material benefits in decision-making, greater efforts are required in adopting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to co-produce knowledge that reflects specific perceptions and understandings of change.