An expression of multiple values: the relationship between community, landscape and natural resource

Smith, Darrell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6745-8804 , Convery, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2527-5660 , Ramsey, Andrew D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5550-9977 and Kouloumpis, Viktor ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3699-7335 (2016) An expression of multiple values: the relationship between community, landscape and natural resource. Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History, 3 (1). p. 6.

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Abstract

To aid political and institutional decision making in the sustainable use of natural resources the value of ecological, socio-cultural and economic assets has increasingly been communicated in terms of monetary units. Despite reliance upon natural resources, the impact of human activities has now reached a stage where cumulative losses are forcing society to re-appraise the evaluation process and how to better incorporate these values in to the decision-making process. This paper examines the attributes of value held by natural resources within ecological, socio-cultural and economic value domains from the perspective of a rural UK community. Here we reflect upon the continued primacy of monetary valuation of natural resource using two approaches, a scaled preference-based value typology and a place-based map measure. We demonstrate that the societal relationships which inform the evaluation of natural resources are both multi-faceted and hierarchical. Moreover, whilst aware of the utilitarian character of society’s relationship with natural resource, the societal value-for-natural-resource relationship is primarily expressed using social-ecological qualities. These results add weight to the call for a new approach towards natural resource evaluation and how these values contribute to the sustainability agenda. New methods of evaluation must adopt multiple values that extend beyond a solely economic-based commodification concern to encompass the human relationship with the resource itself. Wherein, a multi-faceted approach to attributing value to natural resource, set within an experiential framework, can provide a focal point for discussion and the decision-making process.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History
Publisher:	Stockholm University Press
ISSN:	2002-0104
Departments:	Academic Departments > Science, Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies (SNROS) > Outdoor Studies
Additional Information:	Copyright: © 2016 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	11 Nov 2016 20:19
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 16:17
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2516

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