Ecosystem services and social equity: Who controls, who benefits and who loses?

Stakeholders have different roles in the co-production of ecosystem services, e.g. they can be direct or indirect managers or beneficiaries. There are mismatches between those who manage and those who depend on or benefit from ecosystem services.

Different forms of inequities are tied to these roles and can threaten the resilience of socio-ecological systems. Power asymmetries influence stakeholders’ roles in relation to ecosystem services, including their participation in ecosystem services governance.

Insights into roles, power and inequities can be useful for designing participatory governance mechanisms.

Vallet, A., Locatelli, B. and Pramova, E., 2020. Ecosystem services and social equity: Who controls, who benefits and who loses? CIFOR Infobriefs, 307. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/007849