TY - JOUR
T1 - Cross-cultural perceptions of ecosystem services
T2 - A social inquiry on both sides of the Israeli-Jordanian border of the Southern Arava Valley Desert
AU - Sagie, Hila
AU - Morris, Avigail
AU - Rofè, Yodan
AU - Orenstein, Daniel E.
AU - Groner, Elli
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported through a scholarship made available by the framework of the LTSER (Long Term Socio-Ecological Research) site situated in the Southern Arava Valley, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies (AKIS). We would like to thank the numerous students and Arava residents who assisted in the fieldwork. Special thanks to the Arab students who helped as Arabic translators and/or as guides to Jordanian culture and society.
PY - 2013/10/1
Y1 - 2013/10/1
N2 - This research explores local resident perspectives on ecosystem services (ES) in the hyper-arid Arava Valley/Wadi Araba, which spans across both Israel and Jordan. Identifying and characterizing ES, an increasingly popular precursor for crafting sustainable natural resource management and land use policy, is an inherently multi-disciplinary endeavor. Our goal is to apply social research tools, in particular in-depth interviews with local residents, to understand their perspectives concerning ES. Since the research is conducted on two sides of an international border, it also illuminates the potential role of culture, nationality and economics in formulating perceptions on ES in deserts.The results show that, although deserts are often considered to be lacking in ES, local residents feel that their environment is abundant in services, particularly cultural services. Furthermore, although they live in a nearly identical ecosystem, local residents from two sides of the border showed distinct differences, as well as some shared patterns, in how they use and value ES. The study highlights the importance of applying social methods for ES identification and characterization in tandem with other disciplinary approaches, in order to avoid common problems including disregard of the importance of social and cultural perspectives, leading to undervaluing of intangible cultural services.
AB - This research explores local resident perspectives on ecosystem services (ES) in the hyper-arid Arava Valley/Wadi Araba, which spans across both Israel and Jordan. Identifying and characterizing ES, an increasingly popular precursor for crafting sustainable natural resource management and land use policy, is an inherently multi-disciplinary endeavor. Our goal is to apply social research tools, in particular in-depth interviews with local residents, to understand their perspectives concerning ES. Since the research is conducted on two sides of an international border, it also illuminates the potential role of culture, nationality and economics in formulating perceptions on ES in deserts.The results show that, although deserts are often considered to be lacking in ES, local residents feel that their environment is abundant in services, particularly cultural services. Furthermore, although they live in a nearly identical ecosystem, local residents from two sides of the border showed distinct differences, as well as some shared patterns, in how they use and value ES. The study highlights the importance of applying social methods for ES identification and characterization in tandem with other disciplinary approaches, in order to avoid common problems including disregard of the importance of social and cultural perspectives, leading to undervaluing of intangible cultural services.
KW - Bedouin villages
KW - Cultural services
KW - Ecosystem disservices
KW - In-depth interviews
KW - Kibbutz
KW - Provisioning services
KW - Trans-boundary
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879186120&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2013.05.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2013.05.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84879186120
SN - 0140-1963
VL - 97
SP - 38
EP - 48
JO - Journal of Arid Environments
JF - Journal of Arid Environments
ER -