What Determines Individual Demand for Ecosystem Services?

Abstract

Human demand for natural resources tends to be unsustainable. However, within ecosystem services (ES) literature, a rather rationalist view of ES demand dominates. This article broadens this perspective by looking at the demand from the angle of sociological risk theory. Theoretically driven interviews were conducted in three German regions and interpreted in light of risk theory. The empirical results indicate that demand can be explained by multiple aspects: (1) living and working environments, nature perception; (2) individual perceptions of environmental risk; and (3) societal socio-cultural influences. These results can be built upon in future ES research to improve our understanding of the social drivers of demand, which may inform the cultural landscape’s governance and communication strategies that encourage sustainable ES demand.