Health, environment and the ecosystem services framework: A justice critique

Authors Few, R.
Year of Publication 2013
Type of Publication Book Chapter
Open Access No

Abstract

This chapter critically assesses the potential contribution of an ecosystem services (ES) approach applied to the field of health. In doing so, admittedly, it likely poses more questions than it answers. Health is one of the core components of the ES framework (as articulated for example in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the UK’s ESPA funding programme), but I contend that, to date, it remains one of the most scantily scrutinized aspects of the ES approach. In an attempt to stir critical review, I intentionally cast a few ripples. From a perspective rooted in the critical social sciences and particularly in the endeavour to identify and analyse inequities of health and environmental health affecting lower-income populations in developing countries, the chapter weighs up the positives as well as the negatives of the ES framework. It acknowledges advantages the framework can bring in drawing attention to different ES benefits, but contends that an ES approach promotes certain conceptualizations of well-being-environment linkages that do not necessarily challenge and may potentially exacerbate health injustices. Justice is understood in this chapter primarily to refer to fairness in the distribution of goods and bads (resources for health, hazards to health) and fairness in the procedural mechanisms through which decisions are made that have a bearing on health and well-being.