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

Fish, R, Church, Andrew, Winter, Michael (2016) Conceptualising cultural ecosystem services: A novel framework for research and critical engagement. Ecosystem Services, 21 B . pp. 208-217. ISSN 2212-0416. (doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.09.002) (KAR id:59717)

Abstract

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.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.09.002
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography
H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Robert Fish
Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2017 09:59 UTC
Last Modified: 08 Dec 2022 23:38 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/59717 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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