Linking the intangible benefits of nature with human wellbeing

Nature contributes substantially to human well-being through its diverse material and nonmaterial contributions. However, despite the growing literature on the intangible benefits of Nature, we lack a systematic understanding of how they are linked with human wellbeing. This uses the concept of cultural ecosystem services (CESs) as a lens to explore this interface. Through a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature and a pilot empirical study in Da Nang city in Vietnam, the presentation outlines the unique pathways and mechanisms linking individual CESs and constituents of human wellbeing, as well as their relative effects. Subsequently, the presentation identifies their complex interactions through latent class analysis and multiple correspondence analysis (for the systematic review), and causal loop diagrams (for the empirical study). Finally key research trends, gaps and directions for future research and practice are discussed to leverage the potential of the intangible benefits of Nature for human wellbeing and urban sustainability more broadly.

https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abn8042

Alexandros Gasparatos is Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), University of Tokyo. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Before joining the University of Tokyo he conducted research at the University of Oxford (2011-2013), UNU-IAS (2008-2011) and the University of Dundee (2006-2008). During this period he held a Marie Curie Research Fellowship, a James Martin Research Fellowship, a JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Canon Foundation Research Fellowship and an EPSRC-funded Researcher position. As an ecological economist he is interested in the development, refinement and application of sustainability assessment and ecosystem services valuation tools. He has applied such tools in different topics such as food security, renewable energy, energy policy, green economy, and urban metabolism, in geographical contexts as diverse as Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Swaziland and the UK. He is an Editor for Sustainability Science, an Associate Editor for People and Nature, a Section Editor for PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, an Editor for Anthropocene Science, an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems and an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Environmental Science. He has also served as a Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) for the Asia-Pacific Assessment Report and a Scoping Expert and Review Editor of the Nexus Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

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