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10.3.3 Spiritual Domain Within Ecosystem Services
A third way in which biodiversity and the spiritual domain of human health and
well-being can be considered is through the lens of ecosystem services (ESS). The
ESS concept broadly frames the relationship between people and nature in terms of
benefits and services, i.e. the benefits people derive from the ‘services’ provided by
ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [MEA] 2005). This framework has
been used to try to incorporate the value – often in monetary terms – of these services for use in decision-making (Fisher, B. et al. 2009). The MEA (2005) structured ESS into four clusters: provisioning (the products obtained from ecosystems,
e.g. food, water), regulating (benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystems,
e.g. water purification, pest control), supporting (processes necessary to produce
other ESS, e.g. soil formation, photosynthesis) and cultural (“nonmaterial benefits
that people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experiences” [MEA 2005, p. 4]). There
is ongoing debate over the concept of and categorisation of ESS, the relationship
between and operationalisation of ‘service’ and ‘benefit’ – in particular those conceived of as ‘cultural’ – as well as the knowledge base that has informed such effort
(see Daniel et al. 2012; Díaz et al. 2018). Our focus here is to understand how spiritual well-being is discussed and operationalised in relation to biodiversity in this
literature.
The language within this literature refers to spirituality, spiritual enrichment,
spiritual values, spiritual fulfilment and spiritual benefits (e.g. MEA 2005; WHO
and CBD 2015; UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on 2014). One of the
few specific mentions of spiritual well-being is found within the framing of spiritual
and religious values, described as:
Sacred elements of the biota, worship of biota, kindness and gratitude toward biota together
or individually make a contribution to spiritual well-being, and a sense of wholeness and
being ‘at one’, everywhere and forever (connecting the present with the past and the future)
(WHO and CBD 2015, p. 213).
This description implies that spiritual well-being – and aspects conceived in this
chapter as features of spiritual well-being, i.e. wholeness and connectedness
(Table 10.1) – could be indirectly related to biodiversity through incorporating elements of the natural world into religious/spiritual practices. For example, a ceremony dedicated to the jaguar in southern Mexico among the Nahuatl (Caballero
et al. 1998, cited in Russell et al. 2013) demonstrates how a particular species could
serve local communities’ spiritual well-being. Another route through which one
might experience spiritual well-being is through acts of ‘kindness and gratitude’,
for example, through environmental conservation volunteering. The following
examples illustrate ways in which researchers have sought to measure the spiritual
dimension of ESS and integrate biodiversity to enhance understanding of the
relationship.
10 Biodiversity and Spiritual Well-being
10.3.3 Spiritual Domain Within Ecosystem Services
A third way in which biodiversity and the spiritual domain of human health and
well-being can be considered is through the lens of ecosystem services (ESS). The
ESS concept broadly frames the relationship between people and nature in terms of
benefits and services, i.e. the benefits people derive from the ‘services’ provided by
ecosystems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [MEA] 2005). This framework has
been used to try to incorporate the value – often in monetary terms – of these services for use in decision-making (Fisher, B. et al. 2009). The MEA (2005) structured ESS into four clusters: provisioning (the products obtained from ecosystems,
e.g. food, water), regulating (benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystems,
e.g. water purification, pest control), supporting (processes necessary to produce
other ESS, e.g. soil formation, photosynthesis) and cultural (“nonmaterial benefits
that people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation and aesthetic experiences” [MEA 2005, p. 4]). There
is ongoing debate over the concept of and categorisation of ESS, the relationship
between and operationalisation of ‘service’ and ‘benefit’ – in particular those conceived of as ‘cultural’ – as well as the knowledge base that has informed such effort
(see Daniel et al. 2012; Díaz et al. 2018). Our focus here is to understand how spiritual well-being is discussed and operationalised in relation to biodiversity in this
literature.
The language within this literature refers to spirituality, spiritual enrichment,
spiritual values, spiritual fulfilment and spiritual benefits (e.g. MEA 2005; WHO
and CBD 2015; UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on 2014). One of the
few specific mentions of spiritual well-being is found within the framing of spiritual
and religious values, described as:
Sacred elements of the biota, worship of biota, kindness and gratitude toward biota together
or individually make a contribution to spiritual well-being, and a sense of wholeness and
being ‘at one’, everywhere and forever (connecting the present with the past and the future)
(WHO and CBD 2015, p. 213).
This description implies that spiritual well-being – and aspects conceived in this
chapter as features of spiritual well-being, i.e. wholeness and connectedness
(Table 10.1) – could be indirectly related to biodiversity through incorporating elements of the natural world into religious/spiritual practices. For example, a ceremony dedicated to the jaguar in southern Mexico among the Nahuatl (Caballero
et al. 1998, cited in Russell et al. 2013) demonstrates how a particular species could
serve local communities’ spiritual well-being. Another route through which one
might experience spiritual well-being is through acts of ‘kindness and gratitude’,
for example, through environmental conservation volunteering. The following
examples illustrate ways in which researchers have sought to measure the spiritual
dimension of ESS and integrate biodiversity to enhance understanding of the
relationship.
10 Biodiversity and Spiritual Well-being