TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating social learning in participatory mapping of ecosystem services

AU - García-Nieto, Ana P.

AU - Huland, Elias

AU - Quintas-Soriano, Cristina

AU - Iniesta-Arandia, Irene

AU - García-Llorente, Marina

AU - Palomo, Ignacio

AU - Martín-López, Berta

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Funding Information: This research has partially been funded by the European Community?s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant number 308428, OpenNESS Project (www.opennessproject.eu). We thank Dr. Christian Albert, as the assigned editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and useful comments. Funding for the development of this research was provided by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7, 2007?2013) under the OpenNESS Project (Operationalization of Natural capital and Ecosystem Services: From concepts to real-world applications; Contract No. 308428). IIA acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Sciences, Innovation and Universities, through the ?Juan de la Cierva-Incorporaci?n? program (Grant IJCI-2017-33405) and the ?Mar?a de Maeztu? program for Units of Excellence (MDM-2015-0552). IP was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (Grant FJCI-2014-20236). APGN appreciates very deeply all those great years working near to all the colleagues and friends who showed her another way of living science. We express our sincere gratitude to all the workshops? participants for their engagement and kindness. We also appreciate the support in different stages of this research of the Social-Ecological Systems Laboratory, particularly Violeta Hevia, Elisa Oteros-Rozas and Federica Ravera. Funding Information: We thank Dr. Christian Albert, as the assigned editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and useful comments. Funding for the development of this research was provided by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission (FP7, 2007–2013) under the OpenNESS Project (Operationalization of Natural capital and Ecosystem Services: From concepts to real-world applications; Contract No. 308428). IIA acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Sciences, Innovation and Universities, through the “Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación” program (Grant IJCI-2017-33405) and the “María de Maeztu” program for Units of Excellence (MDM-2015-0552). IP was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (Grant FJCI-2014-20236). APGN appreciates very deeply all those great years working near to all the colleagues and friends who showed her another way of living science. We express our sincere gratitude to all the workshops’ participants for their engagement and kindness. We also appreciate the support in different stages of this research of the Social-Ecological Systems Laboratory, particularly Violeta Hevia, Elisa Oteros-Rozas and Federica Ravera. Publisher Copyright: © 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Recent studies have shown the opportunities and limitations of participatory mapping for ecosystem services management, although it is an incipient research area. One of the research questions yet to be addressed is whether the composition of stakeholder groups has an effect on the outputs of participatory mapping. In this study, we assessed the influence of group composition on the mapped spatial distribution of ecosystem services. We developed two participatory mapping workshops of the ecosystem service supply and demand in the Nacimiento Watershed (Andalusia, Spain). In workshop 1, stakeholders were uniformly grouped according to their level of influence on land management. In workshop 2, we created mixed groups, with participants having dissimilar levels of influence on land management. The strategy of the second workshop aimed to foster social learning among participants, which was expected to influence the mapping outputs. We compared the outputs regarding the mapped spatial distribution of the ecosystem service supply and demand between the two workshops. Our results suggest that social learning occurred in groups with a mixed composition of participants, affecting the mapped spatial distribution of the supply and demand of ecosystem services. Finally, we discuss that knowledge exchange among participants can be supported through deliberative processes that occur in participatory settings, when stakeholders have different degrees of influence on land management. This can also enrich the assessment of the distribution of ecosystem services.

AB - Recent studies have shown the opportunities and limitations of participatory mapping for ecosystem services management, although it is an incipient research area. One of the research questions yet to be addressed is whether the composition of stakeholder groups has an effect on the outputs of participatory mapping. In this study, we assessed the influence of group composition on the mapped spatial distribution of ecosystem services. We developed two participatory mapping workshops of the ecosystem service supply and demand in the Nacimiento Watershed (Andalusia, Spain). In workshop 1, stakeholders were uniformly grouped according to their level of influence on land management. In workshop 2, we created mixed groups, with participants having dissimilar levels of influence on land management. The strategy of the second workshop aimed to foster social learning among participants, which was expected to influence the mapping outputs. We compared the outputs regarding the mapped spatial distribution of the ecosystem service supply and demand between the two workshops. Our results suggest that social learning occurred in groups with a mixed composition of participants, affecting the mapped spatial distribution of the supply and demand of ecosystem services. Finally, we discuss that knowledge exchange among participants can be supported through deliberative processes that occur in participatory settings, when stakeholders have different degrees of influence on land management. This can also enrich the assessment of the distribution of ecosystem services.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Deliberation

KW - landscape management

KW - participatory GIS

KW - stakeholder diversity

KW - workshop

KW - knowledge exchange

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073967774&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/26395916.2019.1667875

DO - 10.1080/26395916.2019.1667875

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 15

SP - 257

EP - 268

JO - Ecosystems and People

JF - Ecosystems and People

SN - 2639-5908

IS - 1

ER -