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Published ; This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. ; The construction of culture as a class of ecosystem service presents a significant test of the holistic ambitions of an ecosystems approach to decision making. In this paper we explore the theoretical challenges arising from efforts to understand ecosystems as objects of cultural concern and consider the operational complexities associated with understanding how, and with what consequences, knowledge about cultural ecosystem services are created, communicated and accounted for in real world decision making. We specifically forward and develop a conceptual framework for understanding cultural ecosystem services and related benefits in terms of the environmental spaces and cultural practices that arise from interactions between humans and ecosystems. The types of knowledge, and approaches to knowledge production, presumed by this relational, non-linear and place-based perspective on cultural ecosystem services are discussed and reviewed. The framework not only helps navigate more fully the challenge of operationalising 'cultural ecosystem services' but points to a more relational understanding of the ecosystem services framework as a whole. Extending and refining understanding through more ambitious engagements in interdisciplinarity remains important. ; This research was funded through the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On (Work Package 5: Cultural ecosystem services and indicators) funded by the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

A study of the cultural ecosystem services (CES) arising from peoples' interactions with the rural environment is conducted within the context of a landscape scale, 'nature improvement' initiative in the United Kingdom. Taking a mixed methodological approach, the research applies, and demonstrates empirically, a framework for CES developed under the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (Fish et al., 2016). Applications of the framework involve the study of the 'environmental spaces' and 'cultural practices' that contribute to the realisation of benefits to well-being. In this paper empirical work is undertaken to inform the CES evidence base informing management priorities of the Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area (NDNIA) in south west England. Findings from a questionnaire survey, qualitative mapping, group discussion and a participatory arts-based research process are presented to document the many and diverse ways this study area matters to local communities. The paper analyses the qualities that research participants attribute to the environmental space of the NDNIA, the cultural practices conducted and enabled within it, and their associated benefits. The implications of the study for applying this framework through mixed methodological research are discussed, alongside an account of the impact of this approach within the NDNIA itself. ; This research was funded through the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-On (Work Package 5: Cultural ecosystem services and indicators) funded by the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

The theoretical framework outlined in this paper was developed initially through a series of expert workshops as part of the Valuing Nature Network — BRIDGE: From Values to Decisions project, funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It was developed further through the follow-on phase of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (Work Package 6: Shared, Plural and Cultural Values) funded by the UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Welsh Government, NERC, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). ; Social valuation of ecosystem services and public policy alternatives is one of the greatest challenges facing ecological economists today. Frameworks for valuing nature increasingly include shared/social values as a distinct category of values. However, the nature of shared/social values, as well as their relationship to other values, has not yet been clearly established and empirical evidence about the importance of shared/social values for valuation of ecosystem services is lacking. To help address these theoretical and empirical limitations, this paper outlines a framework of shared/social values across five dimensions: value concept, provider, intention, scale, and elicitation process. Along these dimensions we identify seven main, non-mutually exclusive types of shared values: transcendental, cultural/societal, communal, group, deliberated and other-regarding values, and value to society. Using a case study of a recent controversial policy on forest ownership in England, we conceptualise the dynamic interplay between shared/social and individual values. The way in which social value is assessed in neoclassical economics is discussed and critiqued, followed by consideration of the relation between shared/social values and Total Economic Value, and a review of deliberative and non-monetary methods for assessing shared/social values. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of shared/social values for decision-making. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed