Social value mapping within the ecosystem services framework

Abstract

Ecosystem services and their application for decisionmaking depend on a better understanding of the link between people and ecosystems under different socioeconomic and environmental contexts. This has led to a growing interest in considering social value within the framework of ecosystem services. The methodologies to obtain social value are very vary diverse; and when it comes to mapping social value, multiple approaches are required to better understand and explain social value spatially. Tin review aims to provide description over the state of the art on the mapping of social value within the framework of ecosystem services. A systematic revision was developed which identified 27 pieces of research published between 2011 and 2018 focused on the mapping of social values in the framework of ecosystem services. Our results indicate that participatory approach is predominant in literature, varying mainly in the levels of participation. Our findings suggest that the mapping of social values represents a useful tool to better understanding the social and natural dynamics that take place in a specific location and offer support for decision making, bur more research is needed in this regard.