Presentation of findings from Work Packages 5 and 6 of the National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On about cultural ecosystem services and how to assess shared and cultural values for ecosystems, by Mark Reed and Jasper Kenter, presented to the Nexus Network on 27th June 2014

1. Dr Jasper Kenter & Prof Mark Reed
Shared and cultural values of ecosystems

2. What are
cultural
ecosystem
services?
“The individual or shared benefits
to human well-being that arise
from interactions between
environmental spaces (e.g.
gardens, parks, beaches and
landscapes) and cultural practices
(e.g. gardening, walking, painting
and watching wildlife).”

3. What are
cultural
ecosystem
services?

4. How can
we
measure
cultural
ecosystem
services?
Indicators of the supply of different types of environmental spaces

5. Arts and
Humanities
perspectives
on cultural
values
Qualitative data
• Texts
• Stories
• Performance
• Films
• Artwork
• Photography
• Maps
Gray and Coleridge’s tours through the Lake District as recorded in their texts

7. What are shared values?
• The values that bind us together as
communities, societies and cultures
(‘communal’, ‘societal’ and ‘cultural’ values)
• Our moral principles and overarching life
goals (‘transcendental’ values)
• Other-regarding values and values in relation
to society
• The values that arise from deliberation and
group-based decisions (‘deliberated’ and
‘group’ values)

8. Key findings
• Shared values resulting from
deliberative, group-based valuation
are different from individual values.
Case study evidence suggests that they
are more informed, considered,
confident and reflective of
participants’ deeper-held,
transcendental values

9. Key findings
• It is particularly important to consider
shared values when dealing with
uncertainty & complexity, where
values are likely to be subtle & implicit
(e.g. cultural services), and for issues
that are contested and/or have large
numbers of different stakeholders

10. Key findings
• A mixed method approach is required
to elicit the multiple dimensions of
shared values and to translate deeper-
held, transcendental values into
contextual values and preferences

11. Key findings
• Deliberative and social learning
processes help people to understand
the values held by others; they can
lead to increased sharing of values
and/or to greater acceptance of the
decisions emerging from such
processes

12. What is deliberation?
• Searching for & acquiring information,
gaining knowledge (by learning), and forming
reasoned opinions
• Expressing logical/reasoned opinions (not
exerting power/coercion) through dialogue
• Identifying & critically evaluating options
that might address a problem
• Integrating insights from deliberation to
determine a preferred option, which is well
informed and reasoned

13. Social learning
Social learning partly explains how
deliberation works
– A change in the relationship between a
person and the world (i.e. change in
understanding)
– This change in understanding occurs
through social interaction
– The learning occurs across more than one
person, at the scale of social units or
communities of practice

14. Extent to which deliberation & social
learning leads to greater sharing of values
depends on:
– Diversity of initial values in a group
– How effectively values are made explicit in the
deliberation (may be easier for some
participants to do than others)
– How deeply held those values are
– How effectively the process is designed and
facilitated (ensuring opportunities for
deliberation between participants and
managing power dynamics)
– Length of time over which deliberation occurs

15. Often the value of deliberation is not in
sharing values and reaching consensus,
but in understanding the diversity of
values, appreciating the reasons behind
other people’s values,
helping people to
“live with” decisions
that emerge from
the process

16. Handbook for decision-makers
• Overview of key deliberative, psychometric
and interpretive methods for assessing shared
values
• Different stages of the policy cycle
• Indication of resources/timescales needed
• Examples at different scales and short case
studies to demon-
strate how methods
can be combined
www.lwec.org/sharedvalues

17. More information
• Video
• Handbook for decision-makers
• Full report
• Summary
www.lwec.org.uk/sharedvalues