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major challenge today and into the fu- Ecosystem Assessment (MA) (2). But as we is essential not only for advancing knowledge
ture is to maintain or enhance benefi- detail below, NCP as defined and put into but also for the political legitimacy of assess-
cial contributions of nature to a good practice in IPBES differs from earlier work ment findings (3).
quality of life for all people. This is in several important ways. First, the NCP ap-
among the key motivations of the In- proach recognizes the central and pervasive FROM SERVICES TO CONTRIBUTIONS
tergovernmental Science-Policy Plat- role that culture plays in defining all links be- NCP are all the contributions, both positive
form on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services tween people and nature. Second, use of NCP and negative, of living nature (diversity of
(IPBES), a joint global effort by governments, elevates, emphasizes, and operationalizes the organisms, ecosystems, and their associated
academia, and civil society to assess and pro- role of indigenous and local knowledge in un- ecological and evolutionary processes) to
PHOTO: DINODIA PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
mote knowledge of Earth’s biodiversity and derstanding nature’s contribution to people. people’s quality of life (4). Beneficial contri-
ecosystems and their contribution to human The broad remit of IPBES requires it to butions include, for example, food provision,
societies in order to inform policy formula- engage a wide range of stakeholders, span- water purification, and artistic inspiration,
tion. One of the more recent key elements of ning from natural, social, humanistic, and whereas detrimental contributions include
the IPBES conceptual framework (1) is the engineering sciences to indigenous peoples disease transmission and predation that
notion of nature’s contributions to people and local communities in whose territories damage people or their assets. Many NCP
(NCP), which builds on the ecosystem ser- lie much of the world’s biodiversity. Being an may be perceived as benefits or detriments
vice concept popularized by the Millennium intergovernmental body, such inclusiveness depending on the cultural, socioeconomic,
Published by AAAS
enced policy discourse, and advanced the blended and interwoven (14), enabling co-
sustainability agenda. construction of knowledge among disciplines
However, this predominantly stock-and- and knowledge systems (fig. S2).
flow framing of people-nature relationships
largely failed to engage a range of perspec- Generalizing perspective
tives from the social sciences (6), or those Typical of the natural sciences and econom-
of local practitioners, including indigenous ics, this perspective (represented in green
peoples. This reinforced a mutual alienation at the bottom of fig. S2) is fundamentally
process in which MA-inspired studies and analytical in purpose; it seeks a universally
policies became increasingly narrow, which applicable set of categories of flows from
in turn led to voluntary self-exclusion of dis- nature to people. Distinction between them
ciplines, stakeholders, and worldviews. As a is often sharp, and agency is acknowledged
consequence, the ecosystem services research only in the case of people. NCP categories
program proceeded largely without benefit- can be seen at finer or coarser resolution
ing from insights and tools in social sciences but can still be organized into a single, self-
and humanities. For example, the unpacking consistent system.
and valuation of some “cultural ecosystem We identify 18 such categories for report-
services” not readily amenable to biophysical ing NCP within the generalizing perspec-
or monetary metrics have lagged behind (7), tive, organized in three partially overlapping
and so has their mainstreaming into policy. groups: regulating, material, and nonmate-
cal sustenance. However, food is full of sym- they contributed information presented in different disciplines within western science,
bolic meaning well beyond physical survival. their own narratives. In the Europe and Cen- in the science-policy interface. The NCP ap-
Indeed, nonmaterial and material contribu- tral Asia assessment, these narratives (15) proach aims at coming up with products
tions are often interlinked in most, if not all, revealed complex interactions between detri- that are better and also more legitimate and
cultural contexts (7). mental (predation on livestock) and benefi- therefore more likely to be incorporated into
cial NCP (carcass removal or protection by policy and practice.
Context-specifc perspective shepherd/guard dogs) that were not consid- In addition to assessments, environ-
This is the perspective typical, but not ex- ered in previous national ecosystem assess- mental governance and associated policies
clusive, of local and indigenous knowledge ments. This kind of evidence also enhanced would likely increase their effectiveness
systems (represented in blue at the top of the confidence about the status and trends and social legitimacy by drawing on the
fig. S2). In local and indigenous knowledge of other NCP in cases in which the evidence NCP approach. This is because it facilitates
systems, the production of knowledge typi- based on published literature was scarce much more than previous framings the
cally does not explicitly seek to extend or vali- (such as for NCP “Supporting identities”). connection with rights-based approaches
date itself beyond specific geographical and In this regional assessment, it was relatively to conservation and sustainable use of na-
cultural contexts (14). Indeed, the context- easy to fit most narratives into the 18 catego- ture and their implications for quality of
specific perspective on NCP often tends to ries of the generalizing perspective on NCP. life. The presence of multiple worldviews
resist the scientific goal of attaining a univer- In assessing pollinators, pollination, and and diverse ways of expressing them in the
sally applicable schema. food production (16), the dialogue with wording of the Convention on Biological
Although subdivision into internally con- local and indigenous knowledge-holders Diversity’s strategic plan for biodiversity
sistent systems of categories is common in highlighted some NCP that were defined and specific objectives, such as the Aichi
Published by AAAS
Assessing nature's contributions to people
Sandra Díaz, Unai Pascual, Marie Stenseke, Berta Martín-López, Robert T. Watson, Zsolt Molnár, Rosemary Hill, Kai M. A.
Chan, Ivar A. Baste, Kate A. Brauman, Stephen Polasky, Andrew Church, Mark Lonsdale, Anne Larigauderie, Paul W.
Leadley, Alexander P. E. van Oudenhoven, Felice van der Plaat, Matthias Schröter, Sandra Lavorel, Yildiz
Aumeeruddy-Thomas, Elena Bukvareva, Kirsten Davies, Sebsebe Demissew, Gunay Erpul, Pierre Failler, Carlos A. Guerra,
Chad L. Hewitt, Hans Keune, Sarah Lindley and Yoshihisa Shirayama
SUPPLEMENTARY http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2018/01/18/359.6373.270.DC1
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