Examining ecosystem services and disservices through deliberative socio-cultural valuation

AbstractThe deliberative socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services (ES) and disservices (EDS) is an understudied area of ES and EDS research. Participatory methods have been applied to ES and EDS valuation, but little is known on how these approaches could reveal and form shared values and impact decision-making. This paper presents the deliberative socio-cultural valuation of the Jose Rizal Plaza in Calamba City, The Philippines. The study aimed to assess how stakeholders value the ES and EDS of the park and examine how these values change in different situations. Online focus groups were carried out, and in each, the participants were asked to distribute importance and concern points to the various park ES and EDS, respectively. The valuation exercise was performed six times, changing the source and constituency of the valuation, and introducing discussions. Results confirm significant differences in the values assigned to several ES and EDS across the valuation exercises. Varying the sources and constituencies proved useful in revealing the participants’ shared assigned values. The participants share a high appreciation for enjoyment and spending free time, sports and physical fitness, relaxation and mental recreation, social relationships, and local identity and cultural heritage. For EDS, they share a significant concern only for the risk of anti-social behaviour. This type of valuation could be further explored using other parks and cities to test if it will have consistent results. For the Jose Rizal Plaza, spaces for sports should be maintained and security should be improved.