A human needs approach to understanding the complex link between coastal services and human wellbeing – Tomas Chaigneau et al.(1.8 MB)

2 October 2017

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How DO coastal ecosystems support human wellbeing? New SPACES publication on the many mechanisms

A new paper based on SPACES research reports the diverse ways people reported that ecosystem services support different aspects of wellbeing. The paper discusses these using the capability approach and theory of human needs. The the diverse mechanisms to contribute to wellbeing can be categorised as money, use or experience. Considering all of these mechanisms […]

SPACES publication: Men and women use, experience and value coastal ecosystem services differently

In this latest publication, Matt Fortnam and coauthors from the SPACES team compiled evidence from across the SPACES datasets to illustrate how people’s engagement with ecosystem services are fundamentally gendered… https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800918301836 See this Stockholm Resilience Centre news item for a summary of the paper: https://stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2019-03-17-ecosystem-services-for-men-ecosystem-services-for-women.html and in the blog below Kate Brown discusses the paper […]

New Publication: Assessing Basic Human Needs to prevent serious harm

The methodology used to explore whether people meet their basic human needs is presented and discussed in this new paper. The paper proposes this as a way to monitor the impact of conservation actions on people to prevent serious harm. Chaigneau, T., Coulthard, S., Brown, K., Daw, T.M. and Schulte‐Herbrüggen, B., 2018. Incorporating basic needs […]

Ecosystem services: The past, the pitfalls and the potential for supporting wellbeing of people in the Western Indian Ocean

Tim Daw’s keynote presentation at the 10th WIOMSA symposium. What has the science of ecosystems services got to offer the people and policymakers of the WIO region? And what are the opportunities to use this now widespread concept to sustainably support human wellbeing through these turbulent times. I outline key insights, challenges and opportunities from […]

Understanding the disaggregated nature of ecosystem services wellbeing relationship in northern Mozambique

Dominique Goncalves’ picturesque presentation on the disaggregated nature of ecosystem services wellbeing relationship. She points out that fish and octopus are linked with most basic needs, but people are less satisfied with octopus, and that satisfaction levels vary between the communities. The levels can have to do with gender, tradition, conservation, migration, and/or development.

Participatory Modelling of Wellbeing Tradeoffs in Coastal Kenya (P-Mowtick)

P-Mowtick developed a novel approach to explore and understand tradeoffs in wellbeing with regards to a fisheries system on the Kenyan coast. The social and ecological dynamics of this system creates complex tradeoffs for different stakeholders and between different management objectives of food production, conservation and economic profitability as described in the 7 minute video […]

Exploring wellbeing in fishing communities: methods handbook

Link to pdf

Elasticity in Ecosystem services: Analysing variable relationships between ecosystems and human wellbeing – Tim Daw et al.(1.9 MB)

Tim Daw’s presentation on ecosystem service elasticity at WIOMSA. Daw concludes that the relationship between ecosystems and wellbeing is complex and not necessarily positive, and that understanding ecosystem elasticity can inform conservation and poverty alleviation efforts. Ecosystem service elasticity is affected by ecological and social mechanisms, is different for different people, and is different under […]

Beyond landings – how do fisheries contribute to the lives of the poor? – Tim Daw et al.

Tim Daw’s presentation on how fisheries contribute to the lives of the poor. Key points: The ecological relationship between stock and flow presents challenges and tradeoffs Fisheries provide different benefits for multidimensional wellbeing Income is important and tied with other benefits but not the only value The value of each benefit, who can access it […]

The gendered nature of ecosystem services – Kate Brown et al.

Kate Brown’s presentation on The gendered nature of ecosystem services. She concludes that: The gendered nature of ecosystem services is not natural – it is socially constructed and relational Using the SPACES chain highlights the different dimensions of this, moving us beyond assigning this to gendered roles, access and entitlements Recognise that how wellbeing is […]

Coastal ecosystem and poverty alleviation in Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique – Julio Machele et al.

Marlino Mubai’s presentation on coastal ecosystems and poverty alleviation. The presentation touches on the environmental conditions in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, the contribution of ecosystem services to wellbeing, degraded ecosystems, and the natural gas discovery off the Mozambican coast.

The sea belongs to all: Inequality and ecosystem services in coastal Cabo Delgado, Mozambique – Marlino Mubai et al.

Julio Machele’s presentation on inequality in ecosystem services. He concludes that there is unequal access to coastal ecosystem services in Cabo Delgado, and that these inequalities are based in ethnicity, cultural practices, gender, and wealth.

Understanding the disaggregated nature of ecosystem services well-being relationship in northern Mozambique – Dominque Goncalves

Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: the need to disaggregate human well-being. Environmental Conservation 2011

The concept of ecosystem services (ES), the benefits humans derive from ecosystems, is increasingly applied to environmental conservation, human well-being and poverty alleviation, and to inform the development of interventions. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) implicitly recognize the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of maintaining ES, through monetary compensation from ‘winners’ to ‘losers’. […]

Connecting Marine Ecosystem Services to Human Well-being: Insights from Participatory Well-being Assessment in Kenya. AMBIO 2013

The linkage between ecosystems and human well-being is a focus of the conceptualization of “ecosystem services” as promoted by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. However, the actual nature of connections between ecosystems and the well-being of individuals remains complex and poorly understood. We conducted a series of qualitative focus groups with five different stakeholder groups connected […]

Elasticity in ecosystem services: exploring the variable relationship between ecosystems and human well-being. Ecology and Society 2016

Although ecosystem services are increasingly recognized as benefits people obtain from nature, we still have a poor understanding of how they actually enhance multidimensional human well-being, and how well-being is affected by ecosystem change. We develop a concept of “ecosystem service elasticity” (ES elasticity) that describes the sensitivity of human well-being to changes in ecosystems. […]

Wellbeing Data

All information including publications, conference presentations and news items related to wellbeing data is tagged below.

What has wellbeing got to do with the price of fish: A focus on fishers’ income might miss opportunities for sustainable poverty alleviation

SPACES research informs a call to consider fisheries benefits to wellbeing beyond income. An income focus can miss non-monetary dimensions of poverty, unequal distributions and whether it is spent and saved to improve people’s quality of life. By Tim Daw and Ida Gabrielsson For the past four years, SPACES has conducted research in coastal communities […]

Exploring wellbeing and ecosystem services at the Resillience for Development Colloquium, Johannesburg

Julio Machele, Marlino Mubai, Dominique Goncales, Tim Daw and Thomas Chagneau represented SPACES at this event, which brought together scientists and practitioners working on complex challenges of sustainable development in the context of complex social and ecological interconnections and change. A session on SPACES results featured: – an introduction and overview of the political and […]

SPACES at the ESPA 2016 Annual Science Conference

The ESPA Annual Science Conference was held in Nairobi, Kenya from the 17th to the 18th of November. Several members of the SPACES team were in attendance, including Tim Daw, Kate Brown, Caroline Abunge, Salomao Bandeira, Caroline Abunge, Christopher Cheupe, Julio Machele, Vera Julien, Bernard Owuor, Tomas Chaigneau, Kate Brown, and Kairo Gitundu. Tim, Kate, […]

Connections between Ecosystem Services & Human Wellbeing (video)

In a whiteboard seminar given at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Tim Daw introduces and unpacks some of the issues and processes that connect ecosystem services to human wellbeing.