Jasper Kenter
University of York, Environment, Faculty Member
- Ecosystem Services, Deliberative Democracy, Deliberative Monetary Valuation, Non-monetary valuation, Social Values, Biodiversity Conservation, and 6 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Values, Environmental Valuation (Economics), Ecological Economics, and Social-Ecological Systemsedit
- www.jasperkenter.comedit
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Participative strategy development serves to integrate the interests and perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in today's complex environmental challenges, aiming at a better‐informed strategy for tackling these challenges,... more
Participative strategy development serves to integrate the interests and perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in today's complex environmental challenges, aiming at a better‐informed strategy for tackling these challenges, increased stakeholder ownership, and more democratic decision making. Prior research has observed inherent tensions between the need for participative strategy to be open to stakeholders' input and the need for closure and guidance. We extend this reasoning using a framing perspective. Our evidence from the development of the England Peat Action Plan suggests that tensions can emerge between the necessary ambiguous initial framing of intended change and the persistence of stakeholders' different framings of this change as well as perceptions of lacking knowledge, guidance, and control. We argue that strategy openness can thereby impede stakeholders' willingness and ability to change and counteract the strategy's aim for major transfor...
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Key findings: Finding 1: Shared values resulting from deliberative, group-based valuation are different from individual values. Case study evidence suggests that they are more informed, considered, confident and reflective of... more
Key findings: Finding 1: Shared values resulting from deliberative, group-based valuation are different from individual values. Case study evidence suggests that they are more informed, considered, confident and reflective of participants’ deeper-held, transcendental values. Deliberated, group-based monetary values may be a better reflection of real welfare impacts than non-deliberated individual values, if derived through a carefully designed and managed process. Although more research is needed to expand the currently small evidence base on deliberative monetary methods, group deliberation has the potential to significantly enhance elicitation of values. Finding 2: The ethical, moral and justice dimensions of many environmental issues necessitate approaches that allow for the elicitation of shared and plural values. Key ethical concerns include: 1) providing a space and opportunity for people to identify values that they may find difficult to articulate (e.g. spiritual, identity);...
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The Life Framework of Values links the richness of ways we experience and think of nature with the diverse ways nature matters. In this paper, we further develop and clarify the Life Framework in response to comments by Neuteleers et al.... more
The Life Framework of Values links the richness of ways we experience and think of nature with the diverse ways nature matters. In this paper, we further develop and clarify the Life Framework in response to comments by Neuteleers et al. (Sustain Sci 14(1):4, 2020, 10.1007/s11625-020-00825-7). They supported its application to move beyond the instrumentalism and anthropocentrism associated with ecosystem services and nature’s contributions to people, but were critical of our addition of the living as nature frame to O’Neill et al.’s (Environmental values. Routledge, London, 2008) original three (living from, in and with the natural world), and of the way we defined intrinsic and relational values. We argue that the original presentation of the frames was as distinct sources of concern for nature. The living as frame, characterised by oneness between nature and people, presents a unique source of concern not adequately represented by the original three frames. Whilst the Life Framewo...
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The role of maritime heritage in providing benefits such as sense of place and identity has been well documented, but there is limited quantitative analysis (especially in monetary valuation) of its influence on people’s preferences. In... more
The role of maritime heritage in providing benefits such as sense of place and identity has been well documented, but there is limited quantitative analysis (especially in monetary valuation) of its influence on people’s preferences. In this paper, we present results from a choice experiment where we valued cultural and heritage aspects of fishing through the preferences of seafood consumption. We found a strong preference for some attributes of seafood such as “locality” (origin of the catches), freshness, and sustainability in harvesting, but also a significant role of tangible maritime cultural heritage, such as visible fishing operations. This analysis can be helpful in informing public policies aiming to enhance experiences of fisheries as a living heritage and to valorise local produce to increase income of local communities.
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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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The ecosystem services (ES) concept has emerged as a major theme in environmental research and governance in recent decades (Chaudhary et al., 2015; Costanza et al., 2017). Proponents of the concept highlight its potential to alert policy... more
The ecosystem services (ES) concept has emerged as a major theme in environmental research and governance in recent decades (Chaudhary et al., 2015; Costanza et al., 2017). Proponents of the concept highlight its potential to alert policy makers, businesses, and citizens to our dependence on the natural world. Yet since its inception the concept has been plagued with criticisms of putting market prices on, and ultimately commodifying, nature. This thesis aims to explore debates and tensions within the ES concept through a series of conceptual discussions and empirical investigations. What is revealed is that ES is neither a silver bullet, nor a grave threat. It is a deeply ambiguous concept that takes multiple forms in the different contexts in which it is applied. Through a case study in Scottish inshore governance I show how the concept is shaped by existing institutions, norms, and policy priorities. Rather than dismissing the concept then, what is important is guiding its deploy...
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Coastal and marine cultural heritage (CMCH) is at risk due to its location and its often indefinable value. As these risks are likely to intensify in the future, there is an urgent need to build CMCH resilience. We argue that the current... more
Coastal and marine cultural heritage (CMCH) is at risk due to its location and its often indefinable value. As these risks are likely to intensify in the future, there is an urgent need to build CMCH resilience. We argue that the current CMCH risk management paradigm narrowly focuses on the present and preservation. This tends to exclude debates about the contested nature of resilience and how it may be achieved beyond a strict preservationist approach. There is a need, therefore, to progress a broader and more dynamic framing of CMCH management that recognises the shift away from strict preservationist approaches and incorporates the complexity of heritage’s socio-political contexts. Drawing on critical cultural heritage literature, we reconceptualise CMCH management by rethinking the temporality of cultural heritage. We argue that cultural heritage may exist in four socio-temporal manifestations (extant, lost, dormant, and potential) and that CMCH management consists of three broa...
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The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has launched an assessment to develop a detailed conceptualisation of the values associated with nature and nature’s contributions to people. The... more
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has launched an assessment to develop a detailed conceptualisation of the values associated with nature and nature’s contributions to people. The assessment is considering conceptualisation of values, methods for assessing values, the interface between values and decision making, capacity building, and the role of values in societal transformation towards sustainability
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Research Interests: Economics, Ecosystem Services, Diversity, Conservation, Ecological Economics, and 15 moreMarine Protected Areas, Applied Economics, GE, Resources, Choice Experiment, Economic valuation, Benefits, Marine Protected Area, Impacts, HB, Areas, Economic Value, Floor, Deep sea biodiversity, and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
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1 The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse 2 ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision 3 of food, the regeneration of... more
1 The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse 2 ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision 3 of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in 4 the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral-, hydrocarbon-and fish 5 resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a 6 considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have 7 therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To 8 support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine 9 conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households 10 for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-s...
Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) have been praised as vehicles for tackling complex sustainability issues, but their success relies on the reconciliation of stakeholders’ divergent perspectives. We yet lack a thorough understanding of... more
Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) have been praised as vehicles for tackling complex sustainability issues, but their success relies on the reconciliation of stakeholders’ divergent perspectives. We yet lack a thorough understanding of the micro-level mechanisms by which stakeholders can deal with these differences. To develop such understanding, we examine what frames—i.e., mental schemata for making sense of the world—members of MSIs use during their discussions on sustainability questions and how these frames are deliberated through social interactions. Whilst prior framing research has focussed on between-frame conflicts, we offer a different perspective by examining how and under what conditions actors use shared frames to tackle ‘within-frame conflicts’ on views that stand in the way of joint decisions. Observations of a deliberative environmental valuation workshop and interviews in an MSI on the protection of peatlands—ecosystems that contribute to carbon retention on a g...
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Aims and Objectives: This report presents findings from an action research project conducted in the Scottish Borders between May 2015 and September 2016. The project aimed to:1) Support a local process of community change through building... more
Aims and Objectives: This report presents findings from an action research project conducted in the Scottish Borders between May 2015 and September 2016. The project aimed to:1) Support a local process of community change through building partnerships, learning and capacity building; and2) Understand the critical factors involved in facilitating the development of community resilience to climate change to draw out key levers for change nationally.The project was a collaboration between the University of Dundee, the Scottish Borders Council, Tweed Forum, Southern Uplands Partnership, International Futures Forum and the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences. It worked with three communities that had experience of flooding in the Borders council area and involved bringing together diverse organisations and community members in workshops and other activities.
There is an increasing interest in methods that can understand our values of ecosystem services in broad and multidimensional way. This chapter discusses a range of deliberative, analytical-deliberative, psychological and interpretive... more
There is an increasing interest in methods that can understand our values of ecosystem services in broad and multidimensional way. This chapter discusses a range of deliberative, analytical-deliberative, psychological and interpretive approaches to value the environment. Deliberative methods allow people to ponder, debate and negotiate their values, which can inform, moralise and democratise the valuation process. Analytical-deliberative approaches combine deliberative methods with more formal decision-support tools. Interpretive methods help us understand the narratives of places and what they mean to us as individuals and to our communities and culture. Psychological methods can survey the multi-faceted nature of how ecosystem services contribute to human well-being, and can also investigate our deeper held, 'transcendental' values. The way we approach valuation impacts on the type of values that are highlighted. Embracing values as a pluralistic concept means that, to c...
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The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients... more
The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral-, hydrocarbon- and fish resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-sea. This study is on...
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There is an increasing interest in methods that can understand our values of ecosystem services in broad and multidimensional way. This chapter discusses a range of deliberative, analytical-deliberative, psychological and interpretive... more
There is an increasing interest in methods that can understand our values of ecosystem services in broad and multidimensional way. This chapter discusses a range of deliberative, analytical-deliberative, psychological and interpretive approaches to value the environment. Deliberative methods allow people to ponder, debate and negotiate their values, which can inform, moralise and democratise the valuation process. Analytical-deliberative approaches combine deliberative methods with more formal decision-support tools. Interpretive methods help us understand the narratives of places and what they mean to us as individuals and to our communities and culture. Psychological methods can survey the multi-faceted nature of how ecosystem services contribute to human well-being, and can also investigate our deeper held, 'transcendental' values. The way we approach valuation impacts on the type of values that are highlighted. Embracing values as a pluralistic concept means that, to comprehensively value ecosystem services, we need to embrace a diversity of methods to assess them.
This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy.... more
This paper concludes a special feature of Sustainability Science that explores a broad range of social value theoretical traditions, such as religious studies, social psychology, indigenous knowledge, economics, sociology, and philosophy. We introduce a novel transdisciplinary conceptual framework that revolves around concepts of 'lenses' and 'tensions' to help navigate value diversity. First, we consider the notion of lenses: perspectives on value and valuation along diverse dimensions that describe what values focus on, how their sociality is envisioned, and what epistemic and procedural assumptions are made. We characterise fourteen of such dimensions. This provides a foundation for exploration of seven areas of tension, between: (1) the values of individuals vs collectives; (2) values as discrete and held vs embedded and constructed; (3) value as static or changeable; (4) valuation as descriptive vs normative and transformative; (5) social vs relational values; (6) different rationalities and their relation to value integration; (7) degrees of acknowledgment of the role of power in navigating value conflicts. In doing so, we embrace the 'mess' of diversity, yet also provide a framework to organise this mess and support and encourage active transdisciplinary collaboration. We identify key research areas where such collaborations can be harnessed for sustainability transformation. Here it is crucial to understand how certain social value lenses are privileged over others and build capacity in decision-making for understanding and drawing on multiple value, epistemic and procedural lenses.