Trialling a method to quantify the ‘cultural services’ of the English landscape using Countryside Survey data

► Unique attempt to measure landscape cultural services at a national scale. ► Integration of qualitative and quantitative data. ► Maps of cultural services at landscape and national scales. Increasing pressure on natural resources driven by population growth and higher levels of individual resource...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land use policy 2012-04, Vol.29 (2), p.449-455
Main Authors: Norton, L.R., Inwood, H., Crowe, A., Baker, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Benefits
Consumption
Cultural ecosystem services
data collection
Drinking water
ecosystem services
Ecosystems
England
humans
Interdisciplinary
Land
Land utilization
Landscape
landscapes
national surveys
Natural resources
people
Population growth
Qualitative
Quantitative
Surveys
United Kingdom
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Summary:► Unique attempt to measure landscape cultural services at a national scale. ► Integration of qualitative and quantitative data. ► Maps of cultural services at landscape and national scales. Increasing pressure on natural resources driven by population growth and higher levels of individual resource consumption have led to the need to measure and ultimately place values on the diversity of ecosystem services supported by land in order to manage it appropriately. The complexity underlying the provision of many seemingly simple ecosystem services, e.g. drinking water, make the process of identifying and making appropriate measures far from simple. Cultural services, defined as the nonmaterial benefits that people obtain from ecosystems, comprise a range of experiences of nature which enhance human well-being in a variety of ways. Measurement of the experiential benefits of ecosystems has proved difficult, despite their acknowledged importance. This paper describes a novel approach for providing measures of cultural services at national scale (England). The interdisciplinary approach described combines data from a national survey of the biophysical components of the UK countryside with data collected from regional assessments of experiential qualities of landscape in England. The paper discusses the results, merits and limitations of the datasets and approaches used.
ISSN:0264-8377
1873-5754
DOI:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.09.002