Humans undervalue the importance of nature. Though many enjoy nature for hiking, short breaks from urban surroundings, food, raw materials, or just even some fresh air, researchers from Tokyo, in a review of literature, found there are hundreds of cultural ecosystems services (CESs) that humans and nature connect. CESs are nonmaterial benefits human receive through nature. Examples of CES can be recreation, experience of sense of place, or spiritual value.
For their study, the investigators from University of Tokyo conducted a literature review of 301 academic studies that explored the many CES nature provide for human-wellbeing and hundreds of links. “We identified 227 unique linkages between a single CES (such as recreation or aesthetic value) and a single constituent of human well-being (such as connectedness, spirituality, or health). We knew that there are many linkages, but we were surprised to find quite so many of them,” stated author, Lam Huynh.
In addition, they found 16 distinct underlying mechanisms or type of connections for which people interact with nature for affecting well-being, 10 of these are completely new from this study. While some of these mechanisms are considered “negative” such as being annoyed with wildlife noise, they found that humans well-being are negative effected through loss of degradation of CES. On other words, losing nature have negative consequences for human well-being.
Because so many mechanisms and positive contribution from nature to human wellbeing, the researchers felt there may still be may more links between human and nature that has not been identified: We hypothesize that missing pathways and mechanisms could be present in ecosystem-dependent communities, and especially traditional and Indigenous communities, considering their very unique relations with nature,” said co-author Alexandros Gasparatos.
“Another of the knowledge gaps we identified is that the existing literature on these nonmaterial dimensions of human-nature relationships mainly focuses on the well-being of individuals rather than on collective (community) well-being. This significant gap hinders our capacity to identify possible synergies and trade-offs in ecosystem management research and practice,” added Huynh.
Ultimately, humans have underestimated the importance of our natural world. The underestimation is so severe to the point that many humans think they are above or outside nature and they can abuse it beyond its limitations without consequences. The reality is humans are apart of nature and there is nothing special about humans that make them more important than any other animals or parts of the planet. Our very survival is dependent on a healthy relationship with nature, from every river to ocean to every square inch of the sky to every single living being on this planet. Because if we don’t recognize this reality, there will be major consequences that we cannot escape or buy ourselves out of.
L Huynh et al. Linking the non-material dimensions of human-nature relations and human wellbeing through cultural ecosystem services. Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn8042
