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valuing

Is the more implicit act of assigning a value to something, which, in contrast to valuation, does not necessarily follow an explicit and formal process. Thus, while we all go through the process of ‘valuing’ on a daily basis for our day-to-day decisions, valuation is most often an exercise that is undertaken by 'experts' or a specifically designed team systematically applying a specific method.

values of nature3

When referring to values of ‘nature’, we expand on the concept proposed by Díaz et al. (2015) by recognizing that individual and group understandings of nature are socially constructed, and that different social groups have different conceptualizations of the relationship between the human and non-human world. For IPBES, nature refers loosely to the non-human living world including the scientific categories of biodiversity, ecosystem structure and functioning, evolution, the biosphere, humankind’s shared evolutionary heritage and biocultural diversity.

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The values of nature encompass the different layers of the values typology, including worldviews (and underpinning knowledge systems, languages and cultures), broad values, specific values, indicators and preferences.  In addition to instrumental values, the values of nature include reciprocal values and perspectives of nature where nature and people are not seen as separate, and where intrinsic values are acknowledged on a par with values of nature’s benefits to people.

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Values reflect life goals, beliefs and general guiding principles. They also reflect the opinions or judgements of the importance of specific things in particular situations and contexts. When considering the values of nature, values can refer to nature itself, how nature contributes to people’s quality of life, in addition to the way people express the value of life-supporting processes, functions, and systems - interrelating biophysical, spiritual, or symbolic aspects.

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Those actions, processes, entities or objects that are worthy or important to a particular human population (sometimes values may also refer to moral principles).

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Value systems: Set of values according to which people, societies and organizations regulate their behaviour. Value systems can be identified in both individuals and social groups (Pascual et al., 2017). Value (as principle): A value can be a principle or core belief underpinning rules and moral judgments. Values as principles vary from one culture to another and also between individuals and groups (IPBES/4/INF/13).Value (as preference): A value can be the preference someone has for something or for a particular state of the world.

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Those actions, processes, entities or objects that are worthy or important. Values can be of the following types: Anthropocentic value, Anthropogenic value, Bequest value, Biophysical value, Economic value, Existence value, Insurance value, Intrinsic value, Instrumental value, Non-instrumental value, Option value, Relational value, Socio-cultural value.

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see Value systems, Value (as principles), Value (as preference), Value (as importance), Value (as measure), Non-anthropocentric value, Intrinsic value, Anthropocentric value, Instrumental value, Relational value, Integrated valuation.