SES influence on ecosystem service perception using a PECS approach

Authors from the WaterSES project put the PECS approach into action comparing the perceived perceptions of ecosystem services across 4 social-ecological systems.

Comparisons across place-based social-ecological system case studies can provide generalizable insights and highlight idiosyncratic features of each case and contribute to the broader sustainability discussion. This process is foundational to the PECS approach. In this paper, the authors use this PECS approach to compare 4 social-ecological systems, southern Spain, the south-central Great Plains of Oklahoma (USA), and the Portneuf and Treasure Valleys, Idaho (USA). In the paper they describe and compare people’s perceptions of ecosystem services in each region. They study sociodemographic variables and how they correspond to the variations in stakeholder perceptions. Finally, they evaluate the relationship between the ecosystem service perceptions and their social-ecological context.

We highly recommend this paper for people interested in: social perceptions of ecosystem services, case comparisons, the PECS approach of using place-based social-ecological systems as cases, using social-ecological context variables, any of the regions included in this study or water scarce regions in general.