Deliverable 2.2 - A toolkit supporting the participatory natural capital valuation framework

Valuing the environment involves a complex process in which interested parties discuss the values of environmental goods and ecosystem services at stake for better land use management and the achievement of human wellbeing. The classical economic valuation methods rely on the elicitation of instrumental values (i.e., value of goods assumed as means to an end for improving human welfare). However, values can be more broadly categorised to explore a range of benefits (value plurality), complementing economic benefits with relational, intrinsic and shared values by the adoption of participatory and deliberative processes to elicit individual and group values and reach informed decisions.
In this report we build on the classification of values proposed by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and suggest a combination of methods and tools for discussing a plurality of values to support local decision making. We initially provide considerations on typologies of values and why we need a variety of different approaches to reach value pluralism. We then describe some methods and tools that can be adopted by land users, community groups and natural capital partnerships to support decision making. These tools can be also used by researchers who want to acquire knowledge on the duality and relationships between economic and social values. To achieve this goal, we have designed several steps that support discussions on the conditions of natural capital assets and contextualise values under different scenarios through the analysis of the interactions between nature and humans.
While we recommend the full implementation of the toolset, we recognise that this can be onerous (especially in terms of time). We provide considerations on the aim and the way of implementing each of the methods proposed and briefly suggest how to use the approach at broader scale.
We are conscious that the range of methods and tools available to elicit values is wider than that proposed in this report. However, an initial pilot conducted with a number of local stakeholders working in the agricultural context and with national policy and decision-makers (Scottish Government, Nature Scot, etc.), who were shown the toolkit, revealed positive feedback on its usability, although not all the proposed methods can be easily implemented without external technical support.