Social valuation of ecosystem services and public policy alternatives is one of the greatest challenges facing ecological economists today. Frameworks for valuing nature increasingly include shared/social values as a distinct category of values. However, the nature of shared/social values, as well as their relationship to other values, has not yet been clearly established and empirical evidence about the importance of shared/social values for valuation of ecosystem services is lacking. To help address these theoretical and empirical limitations, this paper outlines a framework of shared/social values across five dimensions: value concept, provider, intention, scale, and elicitation process. Along these dimensions we identify seven main, non-mutually exclusive types of shared values: transcendental, cultural/societal, communal, group, deliberated and other-regarding values, and value to society. Using a case study of a recent controversial policy on forest ownership in England, we conceptualise the dynamic interplay between shared/social and individual values. The way in which social value is assessed in neoclassical economics is discussed and critiqued, followed by consideration of the relation between shared/social values and Total Economic Value, and a review of deliberative and non-monetary methods for assessing shared/social values. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of shared/social values for decision-making

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ABSTRACT1. Coastal sand dunes are widespread worldwide, including around the coasts of the British Isles and Europe, providing a wide range of functions some of which are recognized for their socio-economic benefits.2. In some localities, their contribution to coastal defence and to tourism and regional character have been acknowledged in local plans, but this is far from ubiquitous.3. A rapid assessment was undertaken of the range of ecosystem services provided by coastal sand dune systems, using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ecosystem services classification augmented with habitatand locally-appropriate additions.4. Sand dunes were shown to provide a wide range of provisioning, regulatory, cultural and supporting services, many of which remain substantially overlooked.5. Although the importance of coastal sand dune for a diversity of characteristic and often rare organisms from a variety of taxa has been addressed, many of the broader ecosystem services that these habitats provide to society have been overlooked. This suggests that coastal sand dune systems are neglected ecosystems of significant and often under-appreciated societal value.

Ecosystem services conceptualise the diverse values that ecosystems provide to humanity. This was recognised in the United Kingdom's National Ecosystem Assessment, which noted that appreciation of the full value of ecosystem services requires recognition of values that are shared. By operationalising the shared values concept, it is argued that the contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being can be represented more holistically. This paper considers current understanding of shared values and develops a new metanarrative of shared values beyond the aggregated utilities of individuals. This metanarrative seeks to conceptualise how values can be held both individually and communally, and what this means for identifying their scale and means of enumeration. The paper poses a new reading of the individual values with the formation and expression of shared social values. The implication is that shared values need to be conceived as normative constructs that are derived through social processes of value formation and expression. Shared values thus do not necessarily exist a priori; they can be deliberated through formal and informal processes through which individuals can separate their own preferences from a broader metanarrative about what values ought to be shared.idea of shared values that reconciles the elicitation of preforme

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Groundwater is a vital resource in arid and semi-arid regions, increasingly relied upon for year-round access, though lack of both study and regulation contribute to unsustainable pressures potentially contributing to a negative spiral of ecological, social and economic decline. Using field visits, interviews with locals and experts, and literature reviews, we explored a successful programme of community-based groundwater recharge in three adjacent catchments (the Arvari, Sarsa and Baghani) in semi-arid north Rajasthan, India, led by the NGO Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) in order to determine how successes were achieved and could be replicated. TBS-led initiatives rebuilt traditional village governance structures and participation in community-designed and maintained water harvesting structures (WHSs), which were efficient both economically and in technical design using indigenous knowledge. Enhanced seasonal groundwater recharge enabled by WHSs regenerated aquatic, farmed and natural ecosystems, underpinning a positive cycle of interdependent social and economic regeneration. Locally appropriate, integrated social and technical solutions maintaining this positive cycle have increased the quality of ecosystems and the wellbeing of local people. We used the STEEP (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) framework to stratify outcomes, exploring principles underpinning successful local and catchment-scale regeneration and drawing out lessons transferrable to similarly water-stressed regions.

The mahseer fishes (Tor spp.) represent an iconic genus of large-bodied species of the Cyprinidae family. Across the 16 recognised species in the genus, individual fish can attain weights over 50 kg, resulting in some species being considered as premier sport fishes. Tor species also generally have high religious and cultural significance throughout South and Southeast Asia. Despite their economic and cultural importance, the status of Tor fishes has been increasingly imperilled through their riverine habitats being impacted by anthropogenic activities, such as hydropower dam construction and exploitation. Moreover, conservation efforts have been constrained by knowledge on the genus being heavily skewed