Navigating pluralism: Understanding perceptions of the ecosystem services concept

Ainscough, Jacob; Lentsch, Aster de Vries; Metzger, Marc J.; Rounsevell, Mark; Schröter, Matthias; Delbaere, Ben; Groot, R.S. de; Staes, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.01.004

Cited by 64 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…However, for the most widespread ones, this status is controversial (Ainscough et al 2019;Brand and Jax 2007). This is typically due to tensions between the concepts' inherent vagueness and the need for standardization in policymaking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Grand Concepts of Environmental Studies Boundary objects between disciplines and policymakers

Lundgren

2020

J Environ Stud Sci

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Inter-and transdisciplinary collaboration is necessary in order to take on the environmental challenges facing humanity. Different disciplines, stakeholders, and policymakers need to work together to produce the knowledge necessary to create effective and just courses of action to counteract environmental problems. Recently, the notion of 'boundary objects' has been increasingly used within environmental studies to explain how some objects facilitate communication across the boundaries between different groups of actors. Due to their vague use in common contexts and specific use in each group, these objects let groups retain their own understanding while still communicating successfully with others. Novel concepts like 'resilience', 'ecosystem services', and 'sustainability' are due to their interpretive flexibility commonly described as boundary objects. However, in order to implement these concepts in concrete policy, some amount of standardization is needed. This presents a tension with the vagueness required for the facilitation of communication. This paper explicates whether and how novel concepts in environmental studies can be usefully understood as boundary objects. I review how boundary objects have been applied in the literature surrounding inter-and transdisciplinary collaborations, focusing especially on instances where concepts were considered to be boundary objects. I suggest that novel concepts in environmental studies can be understood as both 'grand concepts' in their most widespread use and as 'hubs and spokes' in local contexts. This allows for both vagueness at the macro level and standardization at the local level. I also explore how models, frameworks, and data have been successfully used as boundary objects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Grand Concepts of Environmental Studies Boundary objects between disciplines and policymakers

Lundgren

2020

J Environ Stud Sci

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“…Although ES have been adopted in high-level policy frameworks-including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the EU Biodiversity Strategy-the application of the concept in policy and decision-making practice remains challenging (Saarikoski et al 2018). Between 2012 and 2017, the European Commission funded the OPERAs project (Operationalising Ecosystem Research Applications) to explore how and under what conditions the ES concept can move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable decisionmaking and ecosystem management (Ainscough et al 2019). OPERAs co-produced a diversity of approaches in twelve 'exemplar' case studies across a range of ecosystems (Patenaude et al 2019;Schoonover et al 2019;Walz et al 2019): Swiss Alps, French Alps, Scotland, Barcelona, the Lower Danube, the Montado region, Dublin, Mediterranean agriculture, the Balearic islands, global, Pan-Europe and the wine sector (see Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationalising ecosystem services in Europe

2019

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“…Values of nature and NCP are not always reducible to each other nor a single value. Thus, embracing multiple values associated with nature and NCP will help communicate with a wide audience for policy and decision making towards a more sustainable global society (Bennett et al 2015;Pascual et al 2017;Ainscough et al 2019;Islam and Managi 2019). In 2018, IPBES commissioned a methodological assessment of diverse conceptualization of values of nature and NCP (IPBES 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%