Using Social Media to Explore Perceptions of Ecosystem Services by Nature-Based Solution Projects

Abstract

Introduction 1.1 Nature-Based Solutions and Perceptions of Ecosystem Services Human sustainable development is facing many challenges such as climate change, urbanization, water supply, and disaster risks. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), which refer to actions inspired by, supported by, or copied from Nature [1] , have been proposed for coping with these challenges. NBS involves directly utilizing the ecosystems with minimum intervention and restoring the ecosystems by following natural laws. These cost-effective longterm solutions represent an interdisciplinary umbrella approach that encompasses experience from existing concepts such as "blue-green infrastructure" in Engineering, "natural capital" and "ecosystem services (ESs)" in Economics, and "landscape function" in Environmental Planning [2]~[4]. It aims to improve local ecological and social sustainability, to ensure long-term productivity [2][5] , and to sustain and potentially increase the ability to provide ESs to humans [2]. ESs are the direct or indirect benefits that people get from the ecosystem. Mainly, ESs are grouped into 4 categories: supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural. [6][7] There could be a cascade from ecosystem functions to ESs, and finally to benefits, indicating that the definition of an ES depends on human activities or wants [8]. Therefore, understanding public perceptions of ESs provided by NBS is crucial for the development and communication of sustainable management and policies [9]. Public satisfaction remains a key output that interests the managers of NBS projects [10] , and the participation and support of citizens in the management of blue-green infrastructure is usually upon their understanding of ESs [11]. Moreover, existing research has shown that sets of ESs could appear together repeatedly, as an ESs bundle [12]. Understanding the interconnections among ESs can help the managers with the synergy between ESs and promote management policies that improve the benefits to humans [13][14]. 1.2 Wetland Parks: A Nature-Based Solution Recent decades have seen a sharp decline and degradation of wetlands in China. From 1978 to 2008, the total area of the country's wetlands decreased by about 33% [15]. In the remaining natural wetlands, ecological functions are disappearing, and the ecosystems have deteriorated [16]. Since 2004, a large number of wetland parks (WPs), as an NBS, have been built in China to protect, compensate, and rationally utilize wetland resources [17]. Up to the end of 2017, in Chinese Mainland, a total of 1,699 WPs have been created [18]. The design and construction of WPs often employ three strategies: 1) inspired by natural wetlands (e.g., constructed vertical

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