Environmental decision making and an ecosystems approach: Some challenges from the perspective of social science

This paper explores issues of theoretical design and application arising from ecosystem service based approaches to natural resource management. Conserving ecosystem services is now a key normative goal of environmental decision making, but the implications of embracing this concept are still little understood. In this paper I highlight two recurring and cross-cutting aspects of an ecosystems approach around which credible treatments of ecosystem services can be realized, not only in theory, but also in practice: first, the need to think 'holistically' about how any given project, proposal or plan would impact on service provision and human well-being; and, second, the need to manage ecosystem services in relation to wider stake-holder values, needs and priorities. While thinking about decision making from the perspective of ecosystem services is no panacea for sustainability, the paper points to a number of social science issues that interdisciplinary researchers could usefully address in these two contexts if they are to harness this concept in creative and critically engaged ways.