New research published in the journal Conservation and Society finds that current ecosystem service frameworks do not adequately reflect the perspectives of people in developing countries. Drawing on the fields of environmental sciences, economics, psychology, sociology and anthropology, this VNN project synthesised key themes from dominant frameworks to discover how the well-being of the world's most impoverished populations, those that most directly rely on ecosystem services, are taken into account.
The study found that the frameworks often fail to capture the diverse nature of ‘well-being’, highlighting the importance of a flexible, interdisciplinary consideration of well-being that takes into account its subjective and objective nature.
Further information
For further information, please see the full article on the Conservation and Society website, or download the PDF.
Full citation: Agarwala, M., Atkinson, G., Palmer Fry, B., Homewood, K. Mourato, S. Rowcliffe, J.M., Wallace, G., and Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2014) “Assessing the Relationship Between Human Well-being and Ecosystem Services: A Review of Frameworks” Conservation and Society 12(4): 437-449.