Conceptualising cultural ecosystem services: A novel framework for research and critical engagement

The construction of culture as a class of ecosystem service presents a significant test of the holistic ambitions of

an ecosystems approach to decision making. In this paper we explore the theoretical challenges arising from

efforts to understand ecosystems as objects of cultural concern and consider the operational complexities

associated with understanding how, and with what consequences, knowledge about cultural ecosystem services

are created, communicated and accounted for in real world decision making. We specifically forward and

develop a conceptual framework for understanding cultural ecosystem services and related benefits in terms of

the environmental spaces and cultural practices that arise from interactions between humans and ecosystems.

The types of knowledge, and approaches to knowledge production, presumed by this relational, non-linear and

place-based perspective on cultural ecosystem services are discussed and reviewed. The framework not only

helps navigate more fully the challenge of operationalising ‘cultural ecosystem services’ but points to a more

relational understanding of the ecosystem services framework as a whole. Extending and refining understanding

through more ambitious engagements in interdisciplinarity remains important.