Unravelling the mechanisms linking cultural ecosystem services and human wellbeing

Abstract

Ecosystems contribute significantly to human wellbeing through the provision of ecosystem services. Despite the growing literature on cultural ecosystem services (CES), there is a lack of systematic understanding of how they are linked with human wellbeing. Here we conduct a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature to identify the mechanisms and pathways underpinning the linkages between different CES and constituents of human wellbeing. Furthermore we identify their complex associations through Latent Class Analysis, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, and different visualisation tools. Overall we identify 16 major mechanisms linking CES and human wellbeing, via 70 distinct pathways. Beyond that we find five major assemblages of pathways featuring consistent associations among mechanisms mediating CES and human wellbeing. We critically discuss the main research trends and gaps, and propose future directions for research and practice in order to leverage the potential of CES for human wellbeing, and sustainability more broadly.

POIs-based public preferences mapping on imbalanced supply-demand of recreation services can support sustainable coastal beach management

“…Coastal beaches, which cover more than one-third of the global coastline (Steven et al, 2020), provide health-related benefits such as recreation and leisure, as well as an abundance of amenities and aesthetic beauty (van den Bosch and Ode Sang, 2017;Huynh et al, 2022). Beach recreation not only directly enhances physical and mental health and improves the quality of life (Bratman et al, 2019;Subiza-Peŕez et al, 2020) but also represents a significant pillar of the economy in many coastal states (Defeo et al, 2021).…”