Linking Ecosystem Services with Cultural Landscape Research

The concept of ecosystem services facilitates the valuation of the multiple services from ecosystems and landscapes, the identification of trade-offs between different land use scenarios, and also informs decision making in land use planning. Unfortunately, cultural services have been mostly neglected within the ecosystem services framework. This could result in trade-off assessments which are biased and mislead ecosystem management and landscape planning. However, cultural landscape research approaches have proven valuable in the assessment of different nonmaterial landscape values and cultural services. In this paper, we compare the objectives, approaches, and methodologies adopted by ecosystem services research and cultural landscape research through a bibliographic research. Both research communities investigate the human dimension of ecosystems and landscapes and, hence, study the same object. A closer link between the two research communities would enrich and possibly sharpen both approaches. In particular, landscape research on cultural services such as aesthetics or cultural heritage could provide valuable results and methods for a comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services.