Abstract
The identification and valuation of ecosystem services (ES) have been widely demonstrated to play an important role in ensuring ecological sustainability as human impact on ecosystems keep increasing. However, understanding local knowledge and perceptions of ES value is frequently ignored in the conventional literature. In this study, a socio-ecological systems approach was utilised in Atebubu, Ghana, to characterize the use and perceptions on available ES, focusing on three main research questions: (1) What are the most important ecosystem services? (2) What is the spatial distribution of the key ES provisioning areas? (3) Are the people willing to pay for the maintenance of the existing ecosystems? In total, 272 community members were interviewed. The data were collected using Participatory GIS, face-to-face interviews, observation, and supported by a literature review. Based on the descriptive analysis, binary regression, and GIS spatial analysis, it was revealed that 87% of the respondents consider provisioning and regulating services to be the most important types of ES. The majority of respondents, for example, chose raw materials as the most important provisioning ES, followed by air quality and temperature regulation for regulating services. The findings further indicate that overexploitation was perceived as a major threat to the available ecosystems and the lack of community participation in ecosystem management has weakened the socio-ecological system in the community. The study, therefore recommends extensive community engagement and the need for practitioners to understand and incorporate community perspectives into ES planning and management.
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FKA and HM designed the study and wrote the original manuscript. DJN and EKS participated in the study design and provided guidance during data collection. LAB participated in the data collection and was a major contributor to the writing of the manuscript. FKA and HM analyzed the data and LAB and JJA assisted in editing the manuscript. All authors reviewed the final manuscript.
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Aazore, F.K., Mensah, H., Nalumu, D.J. et al. Unearthing the hidden treasures: a socio-ecological assessment of the social values of ecosystem services in Ghana. Socio Ecol Pract Res 5, 293–308 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-023-00159-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-023-00159-5