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Natural ecosystems hold great place within the hearts and lives of people, particularly those within which people live and work. However, whether people equally value natural ecosystems that they regularly frequent is effectively unknown. Such knowledge would greatly assist natural resource managers to better understand what they are protecting, why and for whom. In this paper we look at the different values that people hold for different ecosystems within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). We test the relationship between eight different cultural values (using ecosystem services framing), and the use of seven different ecosystems (beaches, creeks and estuaries, islands and cays, inshore reefs, mid-shelf and outer reefs, open water, and shipwrecks) from face-to-face surveys of 1934 residents living within the GBR. We also look at whether the relationships that people have with each ecosystem inspires them to; (i) do more to help protect the GBR, (ii) learn more about the GBR, and (iii) feel personally affected if the health of the GBR declines. Results suggest that there are common reasons why all ecosystems are valued. All seven ecosystems were valued because they provide identity, quality of life and well-being, and inspired people to do more to help protect the GBR. Many were valued for their desirable and active way of life, learning about the environment through scientific discoveries, and learning about the condition of the GBR. However, some ecosystems were valued for special reasons. People that used beaches tended to have more pride in the World Heritage Area status of the GBR and appreciated the aesthetics of the GBR. People that used the mid-shelf and open-water areas were more likely to value biodiversity and aesthetics qualities. People that used inshore reefs were more likely to value economic benefits from the GBR. All residents said that they would be personally affected if the health of the GBR declined, except for those that used beaches, creeks and estuaries. Levels of concern for each of the ecosystems within the GBR varied, where people were more concerned about inshore areas than they were about coral reef condition. Specifically, people were most concerned about the level of rubbish on the beaches in their region and least about mangroves. These results suggest that, even though the GBR is valued in its entirety for many reasons, the GBR is not perceived as an entire ecosystem, but that people have different relationships within it. We discuss how environmental sustainability might be optimised through understanding and incentivising the multi-functionality of landscapes. • The GBR contains many sub-ecosystems, which are valued by people to different extents. • People value all sub-ecosystems for identity, lifestyle and well-being, and for specific reasons. • People are more concerned about rubbish on beaches than coral reef condition. • All sub-ecosystems can inspire people to better protect them. • These results can help managers understand what they are protecting, why and for whom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services (ESs) play vital roles in meeting the needs of human well-being and supporting sustainable development. However, there is limited research on how the types, amounts, interactions, and changes of the ESs collectively impact human well-being under the context of sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. This study selected Qinghai Province of China as the study area and intended to make such an attempt to fill this gap in terms of the following aspects: (1) analyzing the spatial patterns and changing trends of ten ESs (food supply, water supply, carbon sink, soil retention, sand fixation, hydrological regulation, flood mitigation，cultural service，net primary productivity, and habitat quality) in Qinghai Province from 2000 to 2018; (2)constructing a multi-level index system of human well-being under the framework of the SDGs, and setting the criteria to assess the level of local human well-being; and (3) building a structural equation model to explore the direct and indirect impacts of the types, amounts, interactions and changes of the ESs on actual human well-being and the gaps between actual and targeted human well-being. The findings revealed that: (1) most of the ecosystem services fluctuated with significant downward or upward trends during 2000–2018, except for four ESs (i.e., carbon sink, soil retention, flood mitigation, and habitat quality); (2) only a few indicators of local residents' well-being such as meat production, milk production, the numbers of medical technical personnel in hospitals and health centers, and the numbers of scientific and technical personnel met the SDG criteria in most time, while other indicators remained at low levels and there were large gaps between them and the SDG criteria; (3) actual human well-being and the gaps between actual and targeted human well-being were affected by the types, amounts, interactions and changes of the ESs with different degrees directly or indirectly. The approaches and results in this study are instructive for other regions of the world to make certain the roles of ESs in promoting human well-being and substantiating the SDGs. [Display omitted] • Sustainability evaluation of human well-being using SDGs. • There were large gaps of the most human well-being indicators with SDG criteria in the west region in China. • Acompounded evaluated of the impact paths of the ESs on human well-being under the context of the SDGs. • Sustainable landscape management solutions need to consider the natural conditions and cultural connotations of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the existence of numerous research studies on community-based conservation, relatively few focus on the particularities of freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems are distinct from terrestrial and marine ecosystems, exhibiting both greater concentrations of biodiversity and elevated threats. In addition, freshwater resources have distinct social, legal, political, and economic characteristics which limit the generalizability of community-based conservation research from other ecological domains. We examine peer-reviewed literature on community-based management of freshwater resources to understand and assess project contexts and outcomes. Our review indicates that studies of freshwater community-based management are limited in number and representativeness. While positive outcomes for both biodiversity and human well-being are commonly reported, limitations due to study design constrain the ability to infer the significance or causality of these effects. Overall, our analysis indicates that there are several gaps in the available research: across geographic regions, freshwater ecosystem types, intervention types, and environmental and human well-being outcome types. Given the importance of freshwater resources to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, our review highlights the critical need to generate evidence across more diverse contexts to achieve greater clarity on whether and how community-based projects can be most effective. • We reviewed 65 studies of community-based management of freshwater resources. • Studies exhibit diverse attributes though representativeness is limited. • Interventions largely focus on fisheries and irrigation management. • Positive outcomes are prevalent but study validity is generally low. • Representativeness, study design, and equity are major research gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success or failure of environmental management goals can be partially attributed to the support for such goals from the public. Despite this, environmental management is still dominated by a natural science approach with little input from disciplines that are concerned with the relationship between humans and the natural environment such as environmental psychology. Within the marine and freshwater environments, this is particularly concerning given the cultural and aesthetic significance of these environments to the public, coupled with the services delivered by freshwater and marine ecosystems, and the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems to human-driven environmental perturbations. This paper documents nine case studies which use environmental psychology methods to support a range of aquatic management goals. Examples include understanding the drivers of public attitudes towards ecologically important but uncharismatic river species, impacts of marine litter on human well-being, efficacy of small-scale governance of tropical marine fisheries and the role of media in shaping attitudes towards. These case studies illustrate how environmental psychology and natural sciences can be used together to apply an interdisciplinary approach to the management of aquatic environments. Such an approach that actively takes into account the range of issues surrounding aquatic environment management is more likely to result in successful outcomes, from both human and environmental perspectives. Furthermore, the results illustrate that better understanding the societal importance of aquatic ecosystems can reduce conflict between social needs and ecological objectives, and help improve the governance of aquatic ecosystems. Thus, this paper concludes that an effective relationship between academics and practitioners requires fully utilising the skills, knowledge and experience from both sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the perception, use, and prioritization of ecosystem services (ES) is important for shaping local environmental policies. This study assessed for the Cordillera Region, Philippines, Indigenous peoples (IPs) perception on the significance of ES for their well-being, influence of socio-economic factors attributing to these perceptions, and ranked the most valued ES. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaires with 922 households in 48 villages of the Region. We found that most frequently identified and valued ES are provisioning (food, income, and medicinal resources) followed by cultural and regulating ES. The study showed signficant influence (p-value 0.001) of ethnicity, occupation, gender, and age to affect local perceptions of ES provided by the landscapes. A remarkable differences appeared in prioritizing ES, e.g. younger local respondents value ES more than older ones; women have appreciated most ES; and ethnic groupings tend to have a different value of ES that are significantly connected with the landscape characteristics. Traditional rice farming systems was ranked as source providing the most valued ES followed by conventional farming systems and off-farming activities like collection of non-timber forest products. Furthermore, IPs involvement to local surveys are useful in ecosystem conservation strategies because the way society modifies an ecosystem is a function associated to perceptions, interest, and values. A relevant information to decision-makers that must be integrated into local development planning to maintain the flow of ES that support the livelihood in a community. • We assessed the Indigenous peoples perceptions (IPs) on ecosystem services (ES). • Socio-economic factors influence IPs perceptions on provisioning and cultural ES e.g. ethnicity, occupation, gender, and age. • Prioritized ES by IPs are associated with their landscape characteristics. • Traditional rice farming systems are appreciated as source of the most valued ES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape fragmentation has often been seen as an only ecological problem. However, fragmentation also has a societal perspective, namely, in how humans perceive landscape fragmentation and in how landscape fragmentation potentially influences human well-being. These latter aspects have rarely been addressed so far. The interrelationship of ecological and human dimensions of landscape fragmentation becomes especially evident when looking at the landscape where most people in industrial countries live, namely in suburban and urban areas. In these areas, landscape planners and environmental managers are confronted with the problem that landscapes should fulfill various functions, often with conflicting goals, e.g. nature reserves to enhance species richness vs. recreational areas for city-dwellers. We reviewed the ecological and sociological literature relevant for fragmentation in suburban and urban landscapes. In an interdisciplinary approach, we evaluated whether there are similarities and dissimilarities between the ecological and the human aspects of landscape fragmentation. We found important similarities. An example is that for both, humans and biodiversity, the loss of semi-natural areas has more drastic effects than the fragmentation of these areas per se. However, there are also relevant differences. We concluded that in densely populated landscapes a shift from responsive planning to an intentional design of environments is therefore needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

How to improve environmental quality and achieve human development remains major sustainability issues, particularly in the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa). Most of the empirical literature fails to consider human well-being and environmental quality together although these concepts are fundamentally similar in their concern for distributive justice. This inquiry uses panel data for 13 MENA countries over the period 1990–2016 to examine the association between human development and ecological footprint and test whether trade-off nexus holds between these two sustainability-based indicators. To increase the policy relevance of this inquiry, the MENA region is divided into two sub-groups of countries: seven oil exporting countries and six non-oil exporting countries. The highlights pointed out the presence of a strong trade-off between the ecological footprint and human well-being captured by human development index for the whole sample and across the two subsamples. The crucial role played by economic institutions may help the MENA countries to mitigate the trade-offs to achieve simultaneously both targets of human well-being and environmental protection. Our empirical insights have important implications for achieving human development sustainability through the pursuit of the individual SDG targets. • This study aims to examine the trade-off between human well-being and environmental concerns. • 13 MENA countries divided into 7 oil exporting and 6 non-oil exporting countries were investigated. • Interactive Fixed Effects (IFE) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) are used for estimation. • Our main findings confirm the trade-off nexus between human well-being and environmental concerns. • Economic institutions reverse the trade-off between human development and ecological footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid environment change and urbanization process have profoundly altered the socio-ecological relationships and influenced on how local residents perceive ecosystem services (ES) and human well-being (HW). However, the quantified socio-cultural valuation of rural-urban comparison is still insufficient. In this study, we investigated the perception on provisioning, regulating, and cultural ES importance and HW satisfaction degree of basic materials, health, security, and social relations. Subsequently, we explored the linkages between and within ES and HW by face-to-face interviews with urban and rural residents. The results showed that rural residents valued more genetic resources, flood regulation, erosion regulation, and aesthetics ES, while urban residents gave high importance to wood & fiber ES. Overall, urban residents valued provisioning ES, while rural residents valued regulating ES. No difference was observed in cultural ES. For HW, rural residents felt more satisfied with security and health, while urban residents were more satisfied with basic materials. We observed strong relationships among provisioning and regulating ES in rural and urban communities, and the same was observed as in health and security HW. Principal component analysis (PCA) results showed the different variable associations in rural ES and urban HW as well as different groups in urban ES and rural HW. Through confirmation factor analysis (CFA), we screened out freshwater, water purification, air purification, and cultural value as dominant ES indicators for rural and urban population according to the framework of Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in Yanhe watershed. The assessment of people's perception can contribute to the integration of socio-cultural values into the policymaking process. • We quantified ecosystem service and human well-being perception in rural and urban. • Regulating ecosystem service was valued by rural people while provisioning by urban. • Rural people satisfied with security and health while urban people with materials. • Both synergies and trade-offs existed in ecosystem service and human well-being. • Policy decision should focus on important services and unsatisfied well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]