Abstract
Social valuation of ecosystem services and public policy alternatives is one of the greatest challenges facing ecological economists today. Frameworks for valuing nature increasingly include shared/social values as a distinct category of values. However, the nature of shared/social values, as well as their relationship to other values, has not yet been clearly established and empirical evidence about the importance of shared/social values for valuation of ecosystem services is lacking. To help address these theoretical and empirical limitations, this paper outlines a framework of shared/social values across five dimensions: value concept, provider, intention, scale, and elicitation process. Along these dimensions we identify seven main, non-mutually exclusive types of shared values: transcendental, cultural/societal, communal, group, deliberated and other-regarding values, and value to society. Using a case study of a recent controversial policy on forest ownership in England, we conceptualise the dynamic interplay between shared/social and individual values. The way in which social value is assessed in neoclassical economics is discussed and critiqued, followed by consideration of the relation between shared/social values and Total Economic Value, and a review of deliberative and non-monetary methods for assessing shared/social values. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of shared/social values for decision-making.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 86-99 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Ecological Economics |
Volume | 111 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2015 |
Bibliographical note
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'What are shared and social values of ecosystems?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Profiles
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Andrew Church
- Vice-Chancellor's Office - Associate PVC Research and Enterprise
- Centre for Aquatic Environments
- Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics
- Society, Space and Environment Research and Enterprise Group
- Tourism, Hospitality and Events Research and Enterprise Group
Person: Academic