Lin Roberts, Ann Brower, Geoff Kerr, Simon Lambert, Wendy McWilliam, Kevin Moore, John Quinn, David Simmons, Simon Thrush, Mike Townsend, Paul Blaschke, Robert Costanza, Ross Cullen, Ken Hughey and Steve Wratten This report was written by: Lin Roberts1, Ann Brower1, Geoff Kerr1, Simon Lambert1, Wendy McWilliam1, Kevin Moore1, John Quinn2, David Simmons1, Simon Thrush2,3, Mike Townsend2, Paul Blaschke4, Robert Costanza5, Ross Cullen1, Ken Hughey1, Steve Wratten1 1 Lincoln University, PO Box 85084, Lincoln 7647, Canterbury, New Zealand. Email: [email protected] 2 NIWA, PO Box 11115, Hillcrest, Hamilton 3251, New Zealand. 3 Current address: Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. 4 Blaschke & Rutherford Environmental Consultants, 34 Pearce Street, Vogeltown, Wellington 6021, New Zealand. 5 Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. It may be cited as: Roberts, L.; Brower, A.; Kerr, G.; Lambert, S.; McWilliam, W.; Moore, K.; Quinn, J.; Simmons, D.; Thrush, S.; Townsend, M.; Blaschke, P.; Costanza, R.; Cullen, R.; Hughey, K.; Wratten, S. 2015: The nature of wellbeing: how nature’s ecosystem services contribute to the wellbeing of New Zealand and New Zealanders. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 145 p. Cover photo: Herb Christophers. This report is available from the departmental website in pdf form. Titles are listed in our catalogue on the website, refer www.doc.govt.nz under Publications, then Science & technical. © Copyright March 2015, New Zealand Department of Conservation ISBN 978–0–478–15034–6 (web PDF) The nature of wellbeing How nature’s ecosystem services contribute to the wellbeing of New Zealand and New Zealanders Lin Roberts Ann Brower, Geoff Kerr, Simon Lambert, Wendy McWilliam, Kevin Moore, John Quinn, David Simmons, Simon Thrush, Mike Townsend, Paul Blaschke, Robert Costanza, Ross Cullen, Ken Hughey and Steve Wratten CONTENts Executive summary 1 Prologue: Ki uta ki tai—from the mountains to the sea 6 1. Introduction 10 1.1 Context: the decline of native biodiversity in New Zealand 10 1.2 What are ecosystem services? 11 1.3 Native biodiversity and ecosystem services in New Zealand 12 1.4 Ecosystem services and the link to wellbeing in New Zealand 13 2. The good life—what is wellbeing? 15 2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 Wellbeing and happiness 15 2.3 Basic human needs 20 2.4 Measuring progress—wellbeing and policy 24 2.4.1 International developments 24 2.4.2 New Zealand developments 31 2.5 Wellbeing and natural capital 34 2.6 Wellbeing and sustainability 37 2.7 Wellbeing and ecosystem services 38 3. How do ecosystem services contribute to our wellbeing? 40 3.1 Subsistence 40 3.1.1 Fresh water to drink, grow our food and provide electricity 40 3.1.2 Clean air to breathe 42 3.1.3 Food to nourish our bodies 43 3.1.4 Associated services that make food production possible 46 3.1.5 Health 50 3.1.6 Energy to power our lives 52 3.1.7 Shelter, storage and furnishings 53 3.1.8 Clothing 53 3.1.9 Other resources 54 3.2 Protection 54 3.2.1 Flood and erosion protection, and water purification 55 3.2.2 Gas and climate regulation 59 3.2.3 Diversity, resilience and insurance 61 3.2.4 Habitat structure and ecological community services 63 3.2.5 Medicine 63 3.2.6 Air filtration 63 3.2.7 Noise reduction 65 3.2.8 Liquid and solid waste treatment, processing and storage 65 3.3 Affection 67 3.4 Understanding 69 3.5 Participation 72 3.6 Leisure 74 3.6.1 Leisure and environmental quality 78 3.6.2 Tourism 79 3.7 Creation 81 3.8 Identity 83 3.9 Freedom 84 3.10 Material wealth 87 3.10.1 Employment opportunities and ecosystem services 88 3.10.2 New Zealand’s economy and ecosystem services 89 3.10.3 Avoided costs and ecosystem services 91 3.10.4 Risks to economic wealth in New Zealand 91 4. How do we measure the contribution of ecosystem services? 93 4.1 Valuation—monetary and non-monetary 93 4.2 The role of monetary valuation 94 4.3 Defining and categorising ecosystem services 95 4.4 Conceptual principles and frameworks for valuation 96 4.4.1 Total and marginal ecosystem service values 96 4.4.2 Direct and indirect services 98 4.4.3 Economic valuation frameworks 99 4.5 Non-market valuation methods 101 4.6 New Zealand applications 102 5. Conclusions 107 6. Acknowledgements 110 7. References 111 Appendix 1 Glossary of wellbeing terms 140 Appendix 2 Summary of major approaches to wellbeing and human needs 144 Executive summary No matter who we are or where we live, our well-being depends on the way ecosystems work (Haines-Young & Potschin 2010: 110) What do we need for a ‘good life’? At one level, the answer to this question will differ for each person. Yet at a deeper level, we all share a common set of fundamental needs that must be met for us to experience wellbeing. Understanding those needs and the crucial contribution of nature’s services in enabling us to meet them is the subject of this report. The report brings together research on wellbeing and research on ecosystem services, focusing principally on the services that come from indigenous ecosystems in New Zealand. There has been a massive upsurge in research on ecosystem services in the last 20 years, including much detailed research and discussion about how to classify and categorise the types of ecosystem services that contribute to wellbeing, and numerous studies attempting to determine the monetary value of various ecosystem services. However, the question of how to categorise and understand the types or aspects of wellbeing that ecosystem services may contribute to has not been explored to anywhere near the same extent. This may be a reflection of the fact that much of the impetus for studying ecosystem services has come from ecologists and economists, rather than from social scientists who are more familiar with the rapidly expanding wellbeing literature. To date, much of the work of ecologists has focused on the supply of ecosystem services, while that of economists has focused on the demands for ecosystem services, both marketed and non-marketed. However, there has been little focus on what is driving our demand for ecosystem services—a desire for enhanced wellbeing. What are ecosystem services? ‘Ecosystem services’ can most simply be defined as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Ecosystems are widely considered to provide four categories of services: supporting (e.g. nutrient cycling, soil formation and primary production); provisioning (e.g. food, fresh water, wood, fibre and fuel); regulating (e.g. climate regulation, flood and disease regulation, and water purification); and cultural (aesthetic, spiritual, educational and recreational). What is wellbeing? The last 20 years have also seen a significant increase in research on wellbeing. Some of this research has focused on happiness, looking at the different contributors to happiness and how its different aspects can be measured. Other research has come from a policy perspective: as the limitations of using gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of societal wellbeing and progress have become more widely debated, researchers and governments have been exploring how best to measure whether the wellbeing of a nation is improving. In the field of international development, there has been much research exploring whether a universal set of basic human needs can be identified and how the satisfaction of these needs results in wellbeing. In the sustainable development field, the limits of a finite natural system to cater for infinite wants is beginning to generate interest in the distinctions between needs, wants and wellbeing, and the possibilities of living a good life (perhaps even a better life) with a smaller ecological footprint. After reviewing the various strands of wellbeing research, we concluded that the most useful framework for assessing how ecosystem services contribute to wellbeing both globally and within New Zealand is Max-Neef’s (1991) theory of Human Scale Development. Max-Neef concluded that all humans have the same nine fundamental needs—subsistence, protection, The nature of wellbeing 1 affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom. However, how these needs are satisfied will vary between individuals and cultures. Max-Neef also recognised that not all ‘satisfiers’ are equally effective at allowing people to meet their needs. For example, some satisfiers might allow the simultaneous satisfaction of many needs (e.g. breastfeeding may satisfy subsistence, protection and affection), while others may onlyappear to satisfy needs, or may satisfy one need but make it harder to satisfy other needs. If our fundamental needs are not met, we experience a range of poverties; if our needs are fully met, we achieve wellbeing. The choices we make about how to satisfy our needs have an impact on both how much wellbeing we achieve and how much impact we have on ecosystem services. Recognising that we have some universal needs, but that there are a variety of ways (with varying effectiveness and impacts on nature) of satisfying those needs, allows us to explore how we might achieve the ‘double dividend’ of enhanced wellbeing and flourishing ecosystem services. In a world in which economic consumption is threatening to erode the integrity of global ecosystems, it is particularly vital that we identify which types of consumption contribute to the satisfaction of human needs and hence wellbeing, and which simply operate as pseudo-satisfiers, or worse, impair our ability to satisfy our needs. How do ecosystem services contribute to wellbeing? We examined each of Max-Neef’s nine fundamental needs in turn and examined how ecosystem services contribute to the satisfaction of these needs, leading to enhanced wellbeing.