Kate Pike

The assessment of cultural ecosystem services in the marine environment using Q methodology

Cultural ecosystem services are generally understood to be the non-material value that can be gained through ecosystems such as a sense of well-being, reflection and spiritual enhancement. These are often linked with a sense of place, culture, heritage and identity. The assessment of cultural ecosystem services, particularly in the marine environment is an inherently complex and difficult task, because they often involve making value judgments which can be hard to quantify. Methods applied to determining the value of these services are often focused on their financial value. Whilst methodologies have been developed to assess the non-material importance of these services, this paper argues that Q methodology provides a highly appropriate way of examining unmeasurable values by being able to convert qualitative, subjective data into quantitative information. The research presents two data sets derived from Q methodology which examined stakeholder views of the cultural values from two marine protected areas; the Pacific Rim National Park, Vancouver Island, Canada and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Chichester Harbour, UK. The relevance of using Q methodology as a valuation mechanism in this type of study is examined and justified; whilst highlighting the advantages of tackling a subject of values and intangibility, highly qualitative information, with a structured, semi-automated and primarily quantitative methodology. The findings show that the case-study areas hold three predominant ‘factors’ of value for its stake holders. These include the protected areas; as a place of care for each other and oneself through the natural world; a place of spirituality; and as a place of freedom and refuge. The paper strongly argues for the use of Q methodology in such a study, which ultimately helps to bring about a depth of information that arguably traditional methods are incapable of in the same capacity.

Social Value of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas in England and Wales

The U.K. government is committed to establishing a coherent network of marine protected areas by 2012 and the recent Marine and Coastal Access Act, 2009 will designate marine conservation zones and provide wider access rights to the coast. To fulfill these goals, this article argues the need for a clearer, shared understanding of the social value of protected areas in creating new designations and managing existing ones. Although marine and coastal environments attract many people and are vitally important in terms of realized and potential social value, the majority of the public in the United Kingdom lacks understanding and awareness regarding them. Combined with this, the social value of marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) have been largely ignored relative to conservation and economics, with the latter invariably taking precedence in environmental policymaking. Social value reflects the complex, individual responses that people experience in a given place. Many reasons determine why one area is valued above another, and this research investigates the social value of MCPAs from a practitioners perspective through a series of interviews. Understanding why we “socially” value MCPAs will ultimately equip managers with an informed understanding of these spaces, influence management decisions, and, potentially, policymaking. This article defines social value in the context of MCPAs in England and Wales from a practitioner perspective, explores key concepts, and suggests possible improvements in decision-making.

Seeking Spirituality: Respecting the Social Value of Coastal Recreational Resources in England and Wales

ABSTRACT PIKE, K., JOHNSON, D., FLETCHER, S and WRIGHT, P., 2011. Seeking Spirituality: Respecting the Social Value of Coastal Recreational Resources in England and Wales. In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3-2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 194–204. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749-0208. Social value is understood by individuals but is itself a contested concept, although community and participation are key associated terms. Arguably social value of protected areas can be viewed as primarily recreational and aesthetic. Perhaps as a result, social value is often much less considered when compared to environmental and economic aspects when planning the establishment and management of protected areas in coastal locations. Understanding how society values these areas could therefore make a significant difference to optimising management direction and outcomes. Furthermore, understanding non-monetary values could help evaluate trade-offs which can be made between scenarios such as alternative development, management and conservation. Literature on social value touches on many topics including the emotional appreciation of wilderness and theory of visitor management. Ironically, in the future, climate change may raise social value at the coast given a public fascination with dramatic storms and sensational rapid change as a result of coastal processes. In order to identify social value, evaluate how it has been applied, and suggest better future integration, research focussing on selected coastal protected areas in England and Wales has taken an inductive grounded theory approach. A combination of practitioner and public interviews were undertaken to inform the design of a normative statement and model of social value. To understand social values at an operational level a detailed ‘zoning chart’ exercise in conjunction with an expert scoring system was applied to four case studies This work has resulted in validating social value criteria and has highlighted the complexities of measuring social value, particularly using a scoring system to rate the criteria. Tranquillity, for example, is typically subjective. Zoning charts proved to be a productive data collection tool, allowing visualisation of the criteria. All the data collection phases demonstrated that criteria in the ‘spirituality and natural environment’ theme provided the most social value to the public. Criteria in this theme include areas where it is possible to get away from other people in order to experience tranquillity, isolation and remoteness: experiences of views and open coastline: inspirational opportunities for art, poetry and photography: and an outdoor experience in a place where people want to be.

Sustainable Management for Maritime Events and Festivals

ABSTRACT GALLAGHER, A and PIKE, K., 2011. Sustainable Management for Maritime Events and Festivals. In: Micallef, A. (ed.), MCRR3–2010 Conference Proceedings, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 61, pp. 158–165. Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, ISSN 0749–0208. The number and diversity of events and festivals has grown tremendously over recent years reflecting a societal wish of individuals to partake in a wide range of socio-cultural and sporting activities; with marine and coastal events being no exception. This has lead to a growing recognition of associated environmental impacts, and as such explains the conceptual development of sustainable event management (SEM). Sustainability, though still contested in theory, is the key paradigm in which all resource use and development decisions are taken. This includes relevant authorities, and organizations involved in governance, as well as businesses and commercial enterprises, many of which report on their corporate social and environmental responsibilities. In the UK, this has led to the development of a British Standard for sustainable event management (BS89011:2007). The organization and management of marine and coastal events and festivals should in theory be no different. One of the ways in which this can be assessed, and sustainable practice be ‘measured’ and ‘monitored’, is by the generation of a number of key indicators, whereby data is gathered to help establish whether environmental and sustainability goals are being met. As such, this research aims to develop and test a robust and useable suite of indicators which can be used by the events management industry to describe their sustainable practice. The research has three distinct phases. Firstly, views are sought from a broad range of event organisers as to how best achieve sustainability, identifying present practice, intended developments, and organisers’ values. Secondly, data is interpreted using NVIVO in order to establish a core set of indicators that the industry identifies as central to its monitoring of sustainable practice; and thirdly this set will be applied to the Isle of Wight Festival, as an example of a coastal and island event.