Open AccessCultural Ecosystem Services in Protected Areas: Understanding Bundles, Trade‐Offs, and Synergies
Author(s) -
Ament Judith M.,
Moore Christine A.,
Herbst Marna,
Cumming Graeme S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
conservation letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.153
H-Index - 79
ISSN - 1755-263X
DOI - 10.1111/conl.12283
Subject(s) - ecosystem services , recreation , provisioning , business , visitor pattern , service (business) , environmental resource management , natural resource , ecosystem , marketing , ecology , economics , computer science , telecommunications , biology , programming language
The concept of ecosystem services (ES) provides a potentially useful tool for decision‐making in natural area management. Provisioning and regulating ES often occur in “bundles” that are cohesive because of coprovisioning or codependence. We asked whether individual preferences for cultural benefits also define service bundles. Data from a large survey of visitor preferences ( n = 3,131 respondents) from all 19 South African National Parks indicated five bundles of cultural ecosystem services: (1) “natural history,” (2) “recreation,” (3) “sense of place,” (4) “safari experiences,” and (5) “outdoor lifestyle.” Trade‐offs and synergies between bundles of services depended on the ecosystem providing them and on alignment between demand for services and the supply of particular service bundles in specific ecosystems. Our results show that identifying demand for multiple services can both help us to understand why people visit and value protected areas, and better inform the management choices that influence service provision.