Ecosystem services and local wellbeing: case study on natural medicine products in Panguipulli, southern Chile
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.1.1.269Abstract
This research explores how wellbeing is built through social practices related to the use of products of natural medicine (PNM) in local communities of southern Chile. Research inquiry involved the reconstruction of life-history of relevant local stakeholders, particularly through in-depth interviews (life-history method). The analysis relies on the social action theory, human scale development theory and the ecosystem services approach. Results indicate that, in this territory, wellbeing is socially constructed through everyday practices within the family unit, in a private atmosphere (e.g., the transmission of knowledge between parents and sons/daughters when they recollect, recognize and use medical herbs). Wellbeing is also built on another level, through social practices that are more public, such as the recollection and processing of medicine-plants carried out by the Intercultural Medicine Program. The social action theory allowed to observe social practices from everyday life, the ecosystem services approach helped to observe and understand natural resources, strictly related to local satisfaction strategies, becoming this way a theoretical anchor to understand well-being from the humane scale development perspective. In this sense, the main satisfactors identified were: the Inter-cultural Health Program, the Inter-Cultural Board, the cultural agents and the family unit. The Inter-Cultural Health Program is synergistically related to several needs, while the Inter-Cultural Board (discussion opportunity) is exclusively related to understanding and participation needs. Finally, the cultural agents and the family unit are related to the needs of affection, idleness and freedom, among others.
References
Ardila, C., A. Biersack, S. Castro-Gómez, P. Descola, E. Dussel, A. Escobar, et al. 2011. Cultura y Naturaleza. L. Montenegro, Ed. Jardín Botánico de Bogotá José Celestino Mutis. https://goo.gl/BFSKoG.
Balvanera P., M. Uriarte, L. Almeida-Leñero, A. Altesor, F. De Clerck, T. Gardner, J. Hall, A. Lara, P. Laterra, M. Peña-Claros, D. Silva, L. Romero-Duque, A. Vogl, L. Arreola, A. Caro-Borrero, F. Gallego, M. Jain, Ch. Little, R. Olvieira, J. Paruelo, J. Peinado, L. Poorter, N. Ascarrunz, F. Correa, M. Cunha-Santino, A. Hernández-Sánchez, and M. Vallejos. 2012. Ecosystem services research in Latin America: The state of the art. Ecosystem Services 2:56-70.
Bennet, E., W. Cramer, A. Begossi, G. Cundill, S. Díaz, B. Egoh, I. Geizendorffer, C. Krug, S. Lavorel, E. Lazos, L. Lebel, B. Martín-López, P. Meyfroidt, H. Mooney, J. Nel, U. Pascual, K. Payet, N. Harguindeguy, G. Peterson, A. Preiur-Richard, B. Reyers, P. Roebeling, R. Seppelt, M. Solan, P. Tschakert, T. Tscharntke, B. Turner, P. Verburg, E. Viglizzo, P. White, and G. Woodward. 2015. Linking biodiversity,ecosystem services, and human well-being: three challenges for designing research for sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 14:76-85.
Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of A Theory of Practice. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P., and L. Wacquant. 2005. Una invitación a la sociología reflexiva. Siglo XXI Editores.
Butler, C. D., and W. Oluoch-kosura. 2006. Linking Future Ecosystem Services and Future Human Well-being, Ecology and Society 11(1), art. 30. https://goo.gl/IHPzds.
Daw, T., K. Brown, S. Rosendo, R. Pomeroy. 2011. Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation: the need to disaggregate human well-being. Environ Conserv 38:370-379.
Carpenter, S. R., H. A. Mooney, J. Agard, D. Capistrano, et al. 2009. Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 106(5):1305-1312. https://goo.gl/QMVoUK.
Church, A., J. Burgess, N. Ravenscroft, K. Blackstock, E. Brady, et al. 2011. Cultural Services. UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Technical Report 633-692. https://goo.gl/6cVSCS.
Comberti, C., et al. 2015. Ecosystem services or services to ecosystems? Valuing cultivation and reciprocal relationships between humans and ecosystems. Global Environmental Change 34:247-262.
Fish, R., J. Burgess, A. Church, and K. Turner. 2011. Chapter 24: Shared Values for the Contributions Ecosystem Services Make to Human. UK National Ecosystem Assessment: Technical Report, 1183-1194. https://goo.gl/IrGktj.
Fischer, A., and A. Eastwood. 2015. Coproduction of ecosystem services as human-nature interactions - An analytical framework. Land Use Policy 52:41-50. March 2016. ISSN 0264-8377. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
Geertz, C. 1996. La interpretación de las culturas. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Guerry, A., S. Polasky, J. Lubchenco, R. Chaplin-Kramer, G. Daily, R. Griffin, M. Ruckelshaus, I. Bateman, A. Duraiappah, T. Elmqvist, M. Feldman, C. Folke, J. Hoekstra, P. Kareiva, B. Keeler, S. Li, E. McKenzie, Z. Ouyang, B. Reyers, T. Ricketts, J. Rockström, H. Tallis, and B. Vira. 2015. Natural capital and ecosystem services informing decisions: From promise to practice. PNAS 212(24):7348-7345.
Sandhu, H., and S. Sandhu. 2014. Linking ecosystem services with the constituents of human well-being for poverty alleviation in eastern Himalayas. Ecological Economics 107:65-75.
Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE). 2003. Censo 2002: Síntesis de resultados. https://goo.gl/ejN1wS.
Iniesta-Arandia, I., M. García-Llorente, P. Aguilera, C. Montes, and B. Martín-López. 2014. Socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services: uncovering the links between values, drivers of change, and human well-being. Ecological Economics 108:36-48.
Jackson, M. 1983. Knowledge and the Body. Man 18(2):327-45.
Kull, C. A., X. Arnauld de Sartre, and M. Castro-Larrañaga. 2015. The political ecology of ecosystem services. Geoforum 61:122-134. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.004
Max-Neef, M., A. Elizalde, and M. Hopenhayn. 1993. Desarrollo a Escala Humana. Editorial Nordan-Comunidad e Icaria Editorial. https://goo.gl/8itMX3.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis.
Miranda, A., A. Altamirano, L. Cayuela, F. Pincheira, and A. Lara. 2015. Different times, same story:Native forest loss and landscape homogenization in three physiographical areas of south central of Chile. Applied Geography 60:20-28. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.02.016.
Montañés, M. 2013. Diseño científico de muestras estructurales. Dialnet. Actas Del 2do Congreso Nacional Sobre Metodología de La Investigación. Comunicación 4. Vol. 4. https://goo.gl/jk9UJ2.
Nahuelhual L., P. Laterra, S. Villarino, M. Mastrangelo, A. Carmona, A. Jaramillo, P. Barral, and N. Burgos. 2015. Mapping of ecosystem services: missing links between purposes and procedures, Ecosystem Services 13:162-172.
Ostrom, E. 2009. A general framework for analyzing sustainability of social-ecological systems. Science 325(5939):419-22. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1172133
Polasky, S., and K. Segerson. 2009. Integrating ecology and economics in the study of ecosystem services: some lessons learned. Annual Review of Resource Economics 1:409-434. doi:10.1146/annurev.resource.050708.144110.
Skewes, J. C., D. Guerra, P. Rojas, and A. Mellado. 2011. ¿La memoria de los paisajes o los paisajes de la memoria? Desenvolvimiento E Meio Ambiente 23:39-57.
Suich, H., C. Howea, and G. Mace. 2015. Ecosystem services and poverty alleviation: A review of the empirical links. Ecosystem Services 12:137-147.
Xu, H., H. Zheng, X. Chen, Y. Ren, and Z. Ouyang. 2016. Relationships between river water quality and landscape factors in Haihe River Basin, China: implications for environmental management. Chinese Geographical Science 26(2):197-207. doi: 10.1007/s11769-016-0799-9.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Renard S. Betancourt Arellano, Laura Nahuelhual Muñóz
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
