Incorporating multilevel values into the social-ecological systems framework

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The social-ecological systems framework has guided investigations of complex interactions among ecosystems, society, and economies. In recent years, academics and practitioners have taken steps to strengthen this framework by calling for more systematic engagement with the cognitive and affective bases of human behavior. We suggest research that engages with multilevel values (i.e., individual, cultural, assigned) will be better positioned to understand how and why people cooperate in natural resource comanagement situations, and in turn, develop more effective strategies for mitigating and adapting to a changing world. We review three conceptualizations of the value concept operating within environmental governance regimes to offer a deeper understanding of how multilevel values fit within the social-ecological systems framework. Drawing on a conceptual model of these relationships, we share results from three example studies that demonstrate how values and governance can be more explicitly integrated in future research. We aim to stimulate a dialogue about the mutual benefits that can emerge from a fuller characterization of the relationship between values and environmental governance to manage for complexities of social-ecological systems.

Editorial overview: theoretical traditions in social values for sustainability

“…We have presented conceptual frameworks that clarify social values across value dimensions and lenses (Kenter et al 2015(Kenter et al , 2019 and a special issue building on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment investigated the interrelations between social, shared, cultural and plural values (Kenter 2016a). We have developed empirical techniques for assessing the multiple levels or facets of value (van Riper et al 2018;Rawluk et al 2018b), critiqued the multiple assumptions that underpin different ways of aggregating social values for sustainability (Raymond et al 2014), and assessed the multiple pathways between these values and attitudes, beliefs and behaviours relevant to ecological management and conservation (Raymond et al 2011;Ives and Kendal 2014;Raymond and Kenter 2016). We have also considered methods for enhancing management of ecosystem services based on social values collated using participatory mapping (Raymond et al 2009;Bryan et al 2010;Kenter 2016b), shaped through deliberative valuation techniques (Kenter et al 2011(Kenter et al , 2016cOrchard-Webb et al 2016), and understood as emergent from social learning experiments (Eriksson et al 2019).…”

Loving the mess: navigating diversity and conflict in social values for sustainability

“…There are many understandings of social values. Central understandings include values as overarching principles, values pertaining to a common good or society as a whole, and values that become shared through processes of socialisation, including deliberation and internalisation (Kenter et al 2015;van Riper et al 2018;Ishihara 2018). Diverse knowledge and appraisal traditions each harbour one or more social value lenses.…”

Livestock Farming at the Expense of Water Resources? The Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Regions with Intensive Livestock Farming

“…It has proven particularly relevant in the context of common-pool resources such as water governance [25]. Regarding the governance of social-ecological systems, the perspective of the framework advocates for an integral consideration of the ecological and the socio-economic context in policy development [14,26]. Policies should aim at matching with the dynamic nature of the ecological and the social contexts [13], i.e., reaching the social-ecological system fit.…”

“…Applying the SES [12][13][14], we ask first how the adverse ecological outcome came about and secondly how the SES can add to the understanding of the multifaceted interplay in the water-energy-food system in Germany. The application of the social-ecological systems framework allows us to systematically explore the resource systems in the region and the interdependencies between the water, the energy and the food system.…”