TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding how access shapes the transformation of ecosystem services to human well-being with an example from Costa Rica
AU - Berbés-Blázquez, Marta
AU - Bunch, Martin J.
AU - Mulvihill, Peter R.
AU - Peterson, Garry D.
AU - van Wendel de Joode, Berna
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Bribri communities and the local indigenous government. Staff from the Central American Institute for Studies on Toxic Substances (IRET) provided support while in the field. Heartfelt thanks to Andrea Morales, Gicela Maldonado, Leonel Cordoba, Juan Camilo Cano, Douglas Barraza and Ineke Wesseling. Bill Found offered valuable feedback at different stages of the research process. Financial support for this work was provided by the International Development Research Centre ( IDRC -CRDI), York University ’s Las Nubes Project and the Adrienne Pocock Family.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2017/12
Y1 - 2017/12
N2 - Increasingly, ecosystem services have been applied to guide poverty alleviation and sustainable development in resource-dependent communities. Yet, questions of access, which are paramount in determining benefits from the production of ecosystem services, remain theoretically underdeveloped. That is, ecosystem assessments typically have paid little attention to identifying real or hypothetical beneficiaries and the mechanisms by which benefits may be realized. This limits their ability to guide policy and interventions at the local scale. Through a qualitative mixed methods approach, this article analyzes how access to different aspects of the production of provisioning services is negotiated in Bribri communities (Costa Rica) of small-scale plantain farmers with alternative modes of agricultural production. The analysis considers access to land, labour, knowledge, tools, markets, and credit. Our analysis reveals how institutions of access are organized differently in traditional vs. conventional systems of agriculture and how these shape power dynamics and pathways to well-being. We conclude that understanding institutions regulating access to ecosystem services provides more useful insights for poverty alleviation than approaches that assume homogeneous access to benefits.
AB - Increasingly, ecosystem services have been applied to guide poverty alleviation and sustainable development in resource-dependent communities. Yet, questions of access, which are paramount in determining benefits from the production of ecosystem services, remain theoretically underdeveloped. That is, ecosystem assessments typically have paid little attention to identifying real or hypothetical beneficiaries and the mechanisms by which benefits may be realized. This limits their ability to guide policy and interventions at the local scale. Through a qualitative mixed methods approach, this article analyzes how access to different aspects of the production of provisioning services is negotiated in Bribri communities (Costa Rica) of small-scale plantain farmers with alternative modes of agricultural production. The analysis considers access to land, labour, knowledge, tools, markets, and credit. Our analysis reveals how institutions of access are organized differently in traditional vs. conventional systems of agriculture and how these shape power dynamics and pathways to well-being. We conclude that understanding institutions regulating access to ecosystem services provides more useful insights for poverty alleviation than approaches that assume homogeneous access to benefits.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.010
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.010
M3 - Letter
AN - SCOPUS:85032382634
SN - 2212-0416
VL - 28
SP - 320
EP - 327
JO - Ecosystem Services
JF - Ecosystem Services
ER -