Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cultural Ecosystem Services And The Well-Being Of Refugee Communities, Tatiana M. Gladkikh, Rachelle K. Gould, Kimberly J. Coleman

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The growing field of research into cultural ecosystem services (CES) explores nonmaterial benefits that people receive from ecosystems. These studies have, however, largely overlooked refugee communities. To reduce this gap, we systematically review academic literature on refugee interactions with ecosystems to understand what cultural ecosystem services refugees may experience, and how these services affect their well-being. The results identify a broad range of CES that refugees experience, even though studies do not use CES terminology. Benefits include social relations, mental health, cultural heritage, education, recreation, identity, sense of place, aesthetic, spirituality, perspective, and existence value. Results also show that the …