A methodological proposal for the sociocultural valuation of ecosystem services

Abstract

In recent years, progress has been made towards incorporating the sociocultural perspective in the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) to identify the relevant services according to the different needs and perceptions of the populations consulted. New sociocultural assessment methods are being explored to respond to this emerging line of research, without a generally accepted alternative being found thus far. Aiming to contribute to this line of research, this article proposes a new methodological approach for the sociocultural assessment of ES. The new methodological approach is based on combining two different measurement procedures: a traditional Likert scale and the Kano model. The case of ES provided by forests will be considered for its development and application. With the application of the proposed methodology, the sensitivity and consistency of sociocultural assessments of ES would be improved, and the development of longitudinal analysis would be facilitated.