IMBIV   05474
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE BIOLOGIA VEGETAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
The social value of biodiversity and ecosystem services from the perspectives of different social actors
Autor/es:
CÁCERES, D; TAPELLA, E; QUÉTIER, F; DÍAZ, S
Revista:
ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY
Editorial:
RESILIENCE ALLIANCE
Referencias:
Año: 2015 vol. 20
ISSN:
1708-3087
Resumen:
A vast literature is now available on ecosystem services (ES), their potential as a tool for analyzing intertwined processesof ecological and social change, and their monetary valuation. Much less is known about the social value of different ES for differentsocial actors (SA), and their links with specific components of biodiversity. We unpack the social aspects of an interdisciplinary andmulti-SA methodology that allows us to assess how different SA perceive and value different ES, and how they associate them withdifferent components of biodiversity, ecological attributes, and ecosystem types. We apply the methodology to a study area in the GranChaco region of South America, presenting original social-ecological information from the field. Being affected by the rapid andwidespread expansion of agribusiness over the woody ecosystems of southern South America, this location provides a policy-relevantcontext in which to test our approach. We identified six major ecosystem types and five relevant SA. We carried out 163 individual indepthinterviews and ran seven single-actor focus groups. We identified 116 ES, which were then aggregated into 22 more generalcategories. Although all SA perceived all ecosystem types as multifunctional, they showed markedly different perceptions of and interestsin the ES provided by them. Subsistence farmers and extension officers valued a large number of ES primarily provided by the mostpristine ecosystems. Members of conservation agencies and policymakers also identified a wide range of ES, spanning all ecosystemtypes. However, large farmers and cattle ranchers recognized a dependency on only a small number of ES. Therefore, the rapid expansionof agribusiness occurring in this region is a threat to a large number of ES considered valuable by a wide range of SA. Withoutnecessarily having to resort to monetary valuation, our methodology provides a rigorous quantitative-qualitative way to compare theperspective of different SA, including scientists, and is thus useful for social-ecological assessment and action.