Integrating deliberative monetary valuation, systems modelling and participatory mapping to assess shared values of ecosystem services

There is increasing recognition of the need to unite analytical and participatory methodologies to establish more comprehensive valuations of ecosystem services and move beyond individual conceptions of value. This research integrates a three-stage choice experiment with participatory systems modelling, participatory mapping and psychometric analysis in a coastal case study in Scotland. It aimed to explore contrasts between individual willingness to pay and shared values expressed as group-deliberated fair prices, how deliberation on social-ecological systems would impact on value formation, and how participatory mapping might elicit distinct values not reflected in the monetary valuation. Results indicated marked differences between individual and deliberated group values, with deliberated individual values falling between the two. The systems modelling intervention combined with explicit discussion of transcendental values (life goals and guiding principles) generated significant learning and helped to better reflect transcendental values in monetary values. The deliberations and fair price framing shifted participants towards a public policy perspective, balancing benefit trade-offs with questions of fairness and responsibility. The highly localised nature of many values expressed through participatory mapping suggests that many of these places-based values would have been under-recognised by monetary valuation alone.