A framework linking ecosystem services and human well-being: operationalising the concept in Welsh saltmarsh

The ecosystem services approach is based on the interdependencies between nature and human well-being. The ecosystem services aspect of these conceptual classifications is well-developed but the well-being aspect still remains unstructured and vaguely defined. This research advances and exemplifies the linkages between ecosystem services and well-being, with important insights for environmental and health management. An integrated framework was developed by adapting and linking the UKNEA-FO framework with Smith et al.’s (2013) human well-being domains. Besides benefits, the notion of disbenefits was incorporated to recognise the potentially detrimental effects from interacting with nature. Benefits and disbenefits occur at the social-ecological interface so they are classified by the seven domains of well-being they affect. Accounting for disbenefits and benefits specifically increased understanding of the differences in magnitude of their impact on society, spatial scale, and users. The framework is applied to Welsh saltmarshes, where we see that benefits mainly accrue at larger scales with a greater magnitude affecting local to global individuals, while disbenefits tend to occur at a smaller scale and impacting in-situ individuals only. Through trialling our integrated framework on Welsh saltmarshes it is evident that, by including the disbenefits and explicit well-being domains, this approach enables the greater inclusion and understanding of human well-being from the natural environment.