{"title":"Cultural ecosystem services and opportunities for inclusive and effective nature-based solutions","authors":"Simona Panaro , Izabela Delabre , Fiona Marshall","doi":"10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108525","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The concept of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is increasingly applied to sustainable land use change research, policy and planning. Despite an evolving understanding of CES in the research community, policy and planning have not kept up with deeper and more progressive framings of CES. This disjuncture risks the underappreciation of diverse, intrinsic, plural and relational perspectives of CES in emerging policies, such as those related to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) driven by net-zero targets, which in turn hinders the capacity of NbS to deliver their multiple intended benefits. In this article, we examine how the CES concept has been framed and operationalised in recent research on sustainable land use policy, and explore the extent to which the concept of CES has been applied in UK central government policy related to Nature-based Solutions. We highlight the benefits that are emerging of adopting a deeper and more nuanced framing of CES, found in a range of case studies in academic literature. We suggest next steps for a research agenda to better understand the benefits and opportunities of more nuanced CES approaches for particular initiatives and contexts, including for the implementation of Nature-based Solutions in the UK.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51021,"journal":{"name":"Ecological Economics","volume":"230 ","pages":"Article 108525"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ecological Economics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925000084","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The concept of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is increasingly applied to sustainable land use change research, policy and planning. Despite an evolving understanding of CES in the research community, policy and planning have not kept up with deeper and more progressive framings of CES. This disjuncture risks the underappreciation of diverse, intrinsic, plural and relational perspectives of CES in emerging policies, such as those related to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) driven by net-zero targets, which in turn hinders the capacity of NbS to deliver their multiple intended benefits. In this article, we examine how the CES concept has been framed and operationalised in recent research on sustainable land use policy, and explore the extent to which the concept of CES has been applied in UK central government policy related to Nature-based Solutions. We highlight the benefits that are emerging of adopting a deeper and more nuanced framing of CES, found in a range of case studies in academic literature. We suggest next steps for a research agenda to better understand the benefits and opportunities of more nuanced CES approaches for particular initiatives and contexts, including for the implementation of Nature-based Solutions in the UK.
期刊介绍:
Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership.
Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.