IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v5y2013i3p997-1010d24046.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Focal Areas for Measuring the Human Well-Being Impacts of a Conservation Initiative

Author

Listed:
  • Craig Leisher

    (Central Science, The Nature Conservatory, 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA)

  • Leah H. Samberg

    (Consultant, 2312 Skyline Drive, Missoula, MT 59802, USA)

  • Pieter Van Buekering

    (Department of Environmental Economics, Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University, de Boelelann 1105, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • M. Sanjayan

    (Central Science, The Nature Conservatory, 4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203, USA)

Abstract

Within conservation, the need to measure the impacts on people from conservation initiatives such as projects and programs is growing, but understanding and measuring the multidimensional impacts on human well-being from conservation initiatives is complex. To understand the constituent components of human well-being and identify which components of well-being are most common, we analyzed 31 known indices for measuring human well-being. We found 11 focal areas shared by two or more indices for measuring human well-being, and the focal areas of living standards, health, education, social cohesion, security, environment, and governance were in at least 14 of the 31 human well-being indices. We examined each of the common focal areas and assessed its relevance to measuring the human well-being impacts of a conservation initiative. We then looked for existing indices that include the relevant focal areas and recommend the use of Stiglitz et al. (2009)—a framework designed to measure economic performance and social progress—as a starting place for understanding and selecting human well-being focal areas suitable for measuring the impacts on people from a conservation initiative.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig Leisher & Leah H. Samberg & Pieter Van Buekering & M. Sanjayan, 2013. "Focal Areas for Measuring the Human Well-Being Impacts of a Conservation Initiative," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-14, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:3:p:997-1010:d:24046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/3/997/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/3/997/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeremy G. Weber & Erin O. Sills & Simone Bauch & Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, 2011. "Do ICDPs Work? An Empirical Evaluation of Forest-Based Microenterprises in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(4), pages 661-681.
    2. Agarwal, Bina, 2009. "Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2785-2799, September.
    3. Jagger, Pamela, 2008. "Forest incomes after Uganda's forest sector reform: Are the rural poor gaining?," CAPRi working papers 92, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Charles Blessings Laurence Jumbe & Arild Angelsen, 2006. "Do the Poor Benefit from Devolution Policies? Evidence from Malawi’s Forest Co-Management Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 82(4), pages 562-581.
    5. John F. Helliwell, 2014. "Understanding and improving the social context of well-being," Chapters, in: Timo J. Hämäläinen & Juliet Michaelson (ed.), Well-Being and Beyond, chapter 5, pages 125-143, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Bandyopadhyay, Sushenjit & Shyamsundar, Priya & Baccini, Alessandro, 2011. "Forests, biomass use and poverty in Malawi," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2461-2471.
    7. Christopher Boone & Peter Glick & David Sahn, 2011. "Household Water Supply Choice and Time Allocated to Water Collection: Evidence from Madagascar," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(12), pages 1826-1850.
    8. Enrico Giovannini & Jon Hall & Adolfo Morrone & Giulia Ranuzzi, 2011. "A Framework to measure the progress of societies," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 121(1), pages 93-118.
    9. Nicolás L. Gutiérrez & Ray Hilborn & Omar Defeo, 2011. "Leadership, social capital and incentives promote successful fisheries," Nature, Nature, vol. 470(7334), pages 386-389, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Barnes-Mauthe, Michele & Oleson, Kirsten L.L. & Brander, Luke M. & Zafindrasilivonona, Bienvenue & Oliver, Thomas A. & van Beukering, Pieter, 2015. "Social capital as an ecosystem service: Evidence from a locally managed marine area," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 283-293.
    2. Anna Petit-Boix & Defne Apul, 2018. "From Cascade to Bottom-Up Ecosystem Services Model: How Does Social Cohesion Emerge from Urban Agriculture?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, March.
    3. Kibria, Abu SMG & Costanza, Robert & Soto, José R, 2022. "Modeling the complex associations of human wellbeing dimensions in a coupled human-natural system: In contexts of marginalized communities," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 466(C).
    4. Min Song & Lynn Huntsinger & Manman Han, 2018. "How does the Ecological Well-Being of Urban and Rural Residents Change with Rural-Urban Land Conversion? The Case of Hubei, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    5. Changli Zhu & Zhongfa Zhou & Guoxuan Ma & Linjiang Yin, 2022. "Spatial differentiation of the impact of transport accessibility on the multidimensional poverty of rural households in karst mountain areas," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 3863-3883, March.
    6. Agovino, Massimiliano & Aprile, Maria Carmela & Garofalo, Antonio & Mariani, Angela, 2018. "Cancer mortality rates and spillover effects among different areas: A case study in Campania (southern Italy)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 67-83.
    7. Massimiliano Agovino & Mariaconcetta Casaccia & Alessandro Crociata, 2017. "Effectiveness and efficiency of European Regional Development Fund on separate waste collection: evidence from Italian regions by a stochastic frontier approach," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 34(1), pages 105-137, April.
    8. Kibria, Abu S.M.G. & Costanza, Robert & Gasparatos, Alexandros & Soto, José, 2022. "A composite human wellbeing index for ecosystem-dependent communities: A case study in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muuz Hadush, 2018. "Welfare and food security response of animal feed and water resource scarcity in Northern Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    2. St. Clair, Priscilla Cooke, 2016. "Community forest management, gender and fuelwood collection in rural Nepal," Journal of Forest Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 52-71.
    3. Jagger, Pamela & Jumbe, Charles, 2016. "Stoves or sugar? Willingness to adopt improved cookstoves in Malawi," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 409-419.
    4. Richter, Andries & Dakos, Vasilis, 2015. "Profit fluctuations signal eroding resilience of natural resources," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 12-21.
    5. Gianelli, Ignacio & Martínez, Gastón & Defeo, Omar, 2015. "An ecosystem approach to small-scale co-managed fisheries: The yellow clam fishery in Uruguay," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 196-202.
    6. Anne-Sarah Chiambretto & Hubert Stahn, 2017. "Voluntary Management of Fisheries under an Uncertain Background Legislative Threat," Working Papers halshs-01500543, HAL.
    7. Ann Mari May & Gale Summerfield, 2012. "Creating a Space where Gender Matters: Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) talks with Ann Mari May and Gale Summerfield," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 25-37, October.
    8. Pandit, Ram & Bevilacqua, Eddie, 2011. "Forest users and environmental impacts of community forestry in the hills of Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 345-352, June.
    9. Xhulia Likaj & Michael Jacobs & Thomas Fricke, 2022. "Growth, Degrowth or Post-growth? Towards a synthetic understanding of the growth debate," Basic Papers 2, Forum New Economy.
    10. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2014. "Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 217-227.
    11. de Melo, Gioia & Piaggio, Matías, 2015. "The perils of peer punishment: Evidence from a common pool resource framed field experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 376-393.
    12. Leone, Marinella, 2019. "Women as decision makers in community forest management: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 180-191.
    13. Espinoza-Delgado, José & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Nicaragua: evolución de la pobreza multidimensional, 2001-2009," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    14. Cook, Joseph & Kabubo-Mariara, Jane & Kimuyu, Peter, 2021. "The Short-Run Impacts of Reducing Water Collection Times on Time Use, Well-Being and Education in Rural Kenya," EfD Discussion Paper 21-9, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    15. Barbara Quimby & Arielle Levine, 2018. "Participation, Power, and Equity: Examining Three Key Social Dimensions of Fisheries Comanagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-20, September.
    16. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    17. Gull, Ammar Ali & Ahsan, Tanveer & Qureshi, Muhammad Azeem & Mushtaq, Rizwan, 2023. "Striving to safeguard shareholders or maintain sustainability in periods of high uncertainty: A multi-country evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    18. Masuda, Yuta J. & Waterfield, Gina & Castilla, Carolina & Kang, Shiteng & Zhang, Wei, 2022. "Does balancing gender composition lead to more prosocial outcomes? Experimental evidence of equality in public goods and extraction games from rural Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    19. Richter, Andries & Grasman, Johan, 2013. "The transmission of sustainable harvesting norms when agents are conditionally cooperative," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 202-209.
    20. Wood, Apanie L. & Butler, James R.A. & Sheaves, Marcus & Wani, Jacob, 2013. "Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 305-314.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:3:p:997-1010:d:24046. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.