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Until present, it has been challenging to turn the concept of ecosystem services into a practical tool in the formulation of day-to-day policies on a national or regional scale. This is largely due to the overarching nature of the concept of ecosystems services (ESs) and the lack of concrete ecosystem service typologies. In this paper, we describe the foundation process of a national ecosystem service indicator framework for Finland, beginning with the selection of nationally important ESs. We also evaluate how this set of national indicators could be scaled down to regional circumstances, or integrated in the international ecosystem assessment processes. Our aim was to develop a national framework that complies both with national circumstances and with international typologies such as the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) and the cascade model. We developed indicators for 28 ecosystem services (10 provisioning, 12 regulating and maintenance, and 6 cultural services), a set of four indicators for every stage of the cascade model; altogether 112 indicators. We hope that the indicator framework draws attention to questions of resilience by providing information on the different aspects of ecosystem functioning that are crucial to the provisioning of ecosystem services. Furthermore, we hope to highlight the societal dependence on ecosystem services by providing indicators of both benefits and values. Besides higher-level decision-making processes, our attempt was to provide novel ecosystem service information for regional environmental managers and decision-makers, as well as the wider public interested in local issues. Integrating both ecological and socio-economic data into one platform may help to bridge the gap between science and practical decision-making resulting in more sustainable environmental management.

Spatial information and geographical information systems (GISs) are widely used in ecosystem service research, but both the information and the methods need to be properly understood in order to make coherent analyses. We discuss the practical challenges of incorporating spatial data to ecosystem service assessment in an agricultural landscape and apply the ecosystem service cascade model to put different data into context. We review the prerequisites and practices for successful ‘ecosystem service GIS’ and provide a structured view of the information and data needed in the assessment of ecosystem services at a regional scale. Due to the heterogeneity of the spatial data, the regional characteristics should be considered in environmental decision-making through ethnographic research on local expertise to make optimal choices in using spatial information.

Systems thinking is a general worldview concerning the nature of reality. It sees the world as composed of systems, and all particular entities populating reality as linked with other entities – the emergence of new properties denies the flatland of plain materiality, and generates entities of a higher order. Spirituality in historical and modern traditions has minimally amounted to relating oneself to a larger or higher systemic whole, which confers meaning to particular cases of existence. In some religious traditions this larger systemic whole has been understood as a transcendental sphere of existence, whereas in other religious and spiritual traditions it has been seen as an immanent thatness. The search for spirituality and wisdom has never been confined to religious traditions, but has inspired other systems thinkers as well, for example in philosophy, the New Age movement, in developmental psychology, biology, or futures research. The American philosopher and theoretical psychologist Ken Wilber (b. 1949) has discussed, re-interpreted and synthesized various views on spiritual development as well as systems thinking and has provided input for the New Age movement, comparative religion, developmental psychology, and world philosophy. In this article we will discuss the relationship between systems thinking and spirituality and will assess Ken Wilber’s contribution to their conceptualization.

Land-use changes and the resulting habitat degradation have been regarded as the most important known causes of waterfowl population declines. We assessed the habitat requirements of waterbirds, including waterfowl, in a hemiboreal, agricultural watershed in southern Finland. We related the birds' species diversity, abundance and brood numbers on ten lakes to environmental variables, including land use characteristics as well as topographic and local biotic features. Both species diversity and pair numbers responded to land use characteristics, such as the area of agricultural land surrounding the lakes. Our results suggest that land use may reflect habitat quality, possibly in terms of resource availability and predation risk. The pair numbers of waterbirds grew along with the availability of invertebrates, an important food resource. The abundance of gulls affected the diversity, abundance and reproductive success of waterfowl positively in our study area, probably because they provided shelter from pre...

Jussi Lehtonen: Skenaarioita maaseudun palveluista – kaupat, kirjastot ja postit historiastatulevaisuuksiin. Turun yliopiston julkaisuja, sarja C, osa 429. Scripta Lingua Fennica Edita,Turku 2016. 323 s., 12 liites.

Environmental technology provides useful tools for enhancing regional sustainability. The successful development and adoption of new technologies, however, requires a model which includes social elements. We argue that an optimal technology platform for regional sustainability is constructed by using life-based design, i.e. a design where the requirements of the users, of the local human culture, are taken into account. Our argument is illustrated by means of a case study, where we investigated how Finnish farmers in the Karjaanjoki River catchment area adopted new environmental technologies, and how they adapted these technologies to their specific ways of life. We conclude by proposing that in order to effectively promote regional sustainability, environmental technologies should be construed as elements of social processes, in which their life-based design features are actualized in their adoption.

The rapidly increasing area of tree plantations, especially in the tropics and subtropics, has raised expectations and concerns as to their impact on ecosystem services. We studied the effect of the establishment of eucalyptus and pine plantations on local people's social valuations of ecosystem services in a case study in Uruguay. We also assessed the social and political restrictions that might limit the establishment of new markets for ecosystem services. Our study showed that the rapid change in land use in Uruguay over the past 20 years, from grassland to plantations, has affected people's perceptions of landscape's capacity to produce ecosystem services. The ecosystem services of plantations that showed the greatest discrepancy between local people's valuations and both recognition by experts and current scientific evidence were biodiversity, water effects, and carbon cycling. We found that in particular regulating services, and some provisioning ones, are quite well recognized by substance specialists, but are sometimes rather unfamiliar to the general public. The proper planning of plantations may improve the provision of ecosystem services, such as biodiversity enhancement, wood availability for fire and energy, water quality, and carbon sequestration, while at the same time diluting some others. The selection of ecosystem services to be taken into account in plantation management depends both on local cultural values and on the particular environmental pressures considered to be most in need of mitigation.

The ecosystem approach has been adopted as the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and is recommended to be used widely in the integrated management of land, water and living resources, to promote conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way, also in corporations. The forest industry is a resource-intensive branch with various impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Our aims in this study were to examine (i) how the ecosystem approach is implemented in the Finnish forest industry; and (ii) to outline the mental models of environmental experts of corporations, and their conceptualization of some key terms of ecosystem thinking. We interviewed 12 experts about their opinions on the main future challenges, the risks, the mistakes of the past, the possibilities and the successes confronting the forest industry. The results were analyzed using the DPSIR (Driving forces-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses) framework model. Finally, we give several recommendations as to how the ecosystem approach can be integrated into corporate environmental management. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The notions of risk and risk landscape provide useful tools for futures research, concerned as it is with the contingent, future courses of events. Our key concept, the risk landscape, refers to the network of possible worlds shaped by the beliefs, expectations and fears of human actors. We propose that so-called late modern times are characterised by changing risk landscapes, dominated by such risks as climate change. These new risks are highly theoretical, dependent on expert knowledge, and the distribution of costs and benefits related to them does not obey national or class boundaries.

The prominent theme in the debates concerning biodiversity has been the integration of biodiversity into social and economical processes. Integration has meant two different but related things: on one hand, biological phenomena have been contextualized in social and economical processes; on the other hand, biological issues have been incorporated into decision making. These two aspects of integration are related: knowing the context of biodiversity helps in assessing its worth for decision making. In what follows we will first look at the ramifications of decision making, on how to proceed when dealing with apparently incommensurable dimensions. Secondly, we will highlight some key issues in both biological and social impact assessment. Finally, we will propose a process model which takes into account the multiple aspects of biodiversity.

This is the editorial for the special issue 'Systems Thinking, Spirituality and Wisdom: Perspectives on Ken Wilber'.

This essay looks at the idea that human culture is an evolving system, a complex entity that undergoes evolutionary processes. This idea can also be expressed as follows: the cultural infosphere has the same mode of operation as the organic biosphere. There are three parts to the essay: it begins with some highlights from the history of evolutionary thinking; second, it explains the mechanisms of cultural selection; and third, it discusses the vision of the future provided by evolutionary thinking. The kind of evolutionary thinking focused upon is one that takes Charles Darwin seriously. The depth, reach and relevance of Darwinian thinking has been aptly exposed by Daniel C. Dennett, [1] and this essay assesses its worth in futures research.

Contents: Preface. A. Revonsuo, M. Kamppinen, S. Sajama, General Introduction: The Riddle of Consciousness. Part I: What Is Consciousness? A. Revonsuo, The Appearance and Reality of Consciousness. I. Niiniluoto, Scientific Realism and the Problem of Consciousness. D.C. Dennett, Real Consciousness. P.S. Churchland, V.S. Ramachandran, Filling In: Why Dennett Is Wrong. J.R. Searle, The Problem of Consciousness. Part II: The Properties of Consciousness. A. Revonsuo, The Fragile Smell of Rose, the Peculiar Aboutness of Thought, and the Elusive Subject of Conscious Experience. J. Haugeland, Understanding: Dennett and Searle. D.C. Dennett, Instead of Qualia. Part III: Models of Consciousness. A. Revonsuo, Chasing the Ghost in the Machine. B.J. Baars, A Global Workspace Theory of Conscious Experience. A.W. Young, Neuropsychology of Awareness. Part IV: The Future of Consciousness. A. Revonsuo, Will We Get an Explanation for Consciousness? B.J. Baars, J. Newman, A Neurobiological Interpretation of Global Workspace Theory. R. Tuomela, The Fate of Folk Psychology. A. Revonsuo, In Search of the Science of Consciousness.

Walter E.A. van Beek, Ph. Quarles van Ufford, Religion and development; Towards an integrated approach, Amsterdam: Free University Press, 1988., M. Schoffeleers (eds.) - J.H. de Beer, H.F. Tillema, A journey among the people of Central Borneo in word and picture, edited and with an introduction by Victor T. King, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989. 268 pp. - Chris de Beet, Richard Price, Alabi’s world. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1990. xx + 444 pp. - G. Bos, Neil L. Whitehead, Lords of the tiger spirit; A history of the Caribs in colonial Venezuela and Guyana 1498-1820, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Leiden. Caribbean series 10, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris publications, 1988, 250 pp., maps, ills., index, bibl. - James R. Brandon, Richard Schechner, By means of performance: Intercultural studies of theatre and ritual. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. 190 + xv pp + ills. Paperback, Willa Appel (eds.) - J.N. Breetvelt, Matti Kamppinen, Cognitive systems and cultural models of illness, Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, FF Comunications No. 244, 1989. 152 pp. - Martin van Bruinessen, Mark R. Woodward, Islam in Java: Normative piety and mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogykarta. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989, 311 pp, index. - J.G. de Casparis, Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer, Ancient Indonesian Bronzes; A catalogue of the exhibition in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam with a general introduction. Leiden: Brill, 1988. IX + 179 pp., richly illustrated., Marijke J. Klokke (eds.) - Hugo Fernandes Mendes, Luc Alofs, Ken ta Arubiano? Sociale intergartie en natievorming op Aruba, Leiden: Caraïbische Afdeling, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1990. ix + 232 pp., Leontine Merkies (eds.) - Rene van der Haar, I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Kommunikation bei den Eipo; Eine humanethologische bestandsaufnahme, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1989., W. Schiefenhövel, V. Heeschen (eds.) - M. Heins, K. Epskamp, Populaire cultuur op de planken; Theater, communicatie en Derde Wereld. Den Haag: CSEO Paperback no. 6, 1989., R. van ‘t Rood (eds.) - Huub de Jonge, Thomas Höllman, Tabak in Südostasien; Ein ethnographisch-historischer Überblick, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988. Bibl., tab., ill., append., 233 pp., - Nico de Jonge, Jowa Imre Kis-Jovak, Banua Toraja; Changing patterns in architecture and symbolism among the Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi - Indonesia. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 1988, 135 pp., Hetty Nooy-Palm, Reimar Schefold (eds.) - L. Laeyendecker, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Durkheimian sociology: Cultural analysis, Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 227 pp. - Thomas Lindblad, W.A.I.M. Segers, Changing economy in Indonesia. A selection of statistical source material from the early 19th century up to 1940. Vol 8. Manufacturing industry 1870-1942. Amsterdam, 1987. 224 pp. - C.L.J. van der Meer, Akira Suehiro, Capital accumulation in Thailand 1855-1985, The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, Tokyo, 1989. xviii + 427 pp., maps, figs, app. - Niels Mulder, Nancy Eberhardt, Gender, power, and the construction of the moral order: Studies from the Thai periphery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monograph 4, 1988. viii + 100 pages, softcover. - Gert Oostindie, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Wit over zwart; Beelden van Afrika en zwarten in de Westerse populaire cultuur. Amsterdam: Koninklijk Insituut voor de Tropen, 1990. 259 pp., ills. - Gert Oostindie, Raymond Corbey, Wildheid en beschaving; De Europese verbeelding van Afrika. Baarn: Ambo, 1989. 182 pp., ills. - R. Ploeg, Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent conquests; Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. xi + 243 pp. - S.O. Robson, Luigi Santa Maria, Papers from the III European Colloquium on Malay and Indonesian Studies. Istituto Universitario Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici (Series Minor XXX). Naples 1988. 276 pp., Faizah Soenoto Rivai, Antonio Sorrentino (eds.) - R.A. Römer, J.M.R. Schrils, Een democratie in gevaar; Een verslag van de situatie op Curaçao tot 1987. Van Gorcum, Assen: 1990. xii + 292 blz. - Patricia D. Rueb, Han ten Brummelhuis, Merchant, courtier and diplomat: A history of the contacts between the Netherlands and Thailand, Lochem, 1987, 116 pp., illustrated.

Walter E.A. van Beek, Ph. Quarles van Ufford, Religion and development; Towards an integrated approach, Amsterdam: Free University Press, 1988., M. Schoffeleers (eds.) - J.H. de Beer, H.F. Tillema, A journey among the people of Central Borneo in word and picture, edited and with an introduction by Victor T. King, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989. 268 pp. - Chris de Beet, Richard Price, Alabi’s world. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1990. xx + 444 pp. - G. Bos, Neil L. Whitehead, Lords of the tiger spirit; A history of the Caribs in colonial Venezuela and Guyana 1498-1820, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Leiden. Caribbean series 10, Dordrecht/Providence: Foris publications, 1988, 250 pp., maps, ills., index, bibl. - James R. Brandon, Richard Schechner, By means of performance: Intercultural studies of theatre and ritual. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. 190 + xv pp + ills. Paperback, Willa Appel (eds.) - J.N. Breetvelt, Matti Kamppinen, Cognitive systems and cultural models of illness, Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, FF Comunications No. 244, 1989. 152 pp. - Martin van Bruinessen, Mark R. Woodward, Islam in Java: Normative piety and mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogykarta. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1989, 311 pp, index. - J.G. de Casparis, Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer, Ancient Indonesian Bronzes; A catalogue of the exhibition in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam with a general introduction. Leiden: Brill, 1988. IX + 179 pp., richly illustrated., Marijke J. Klokke (eds.) - Hugo Fernandes Mendes, Luc Alofs, Ken ta Arubiano? Sociale intergartie en natievorming op Aruba, Leiden: Caraïbische Afdeling, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1990. ix + 232 pp., Leontine Merkies (eds.) - Rene van der Haar, I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Kommunikation bei den Eipo; Eine humanethologische bestandsaufnahme, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1989., W. Schiefenhövel, V. Heeschen (eds.) - M. Heins, K. Epskamp, Populaire cultuur op de planken; Theater, communicatie en Derde Wereld. Den Haag: CSEO Paperback no. 6, 1989., R. van ‘t Rood (eds.) - Huub de Jonge, Thomas Höllman, Tabak in Südostasien; Ein ethnographisch-historischer Überblick, Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988. Bibl., tab., ill., append., 233 pp., - Nico de Jonge, Jowa Imre Kis-Jovak, Banua Toraja; Changing patterns in architecture and symbolism among the Sa’dan Toraja, Sulawesi - Indonesia. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute, 1988, 135 pp., Hetty Nooy-Palm, Reimar Schefold (eds.) - L. Laeyendecker, Jeffrey C. Alexander, Durkheimian sociology: Cultural analysis, Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 227 pp. - Thomas Lindblad, W.A.I.M. Segers, Changing economy in Indonesia. A selection of statistical source material from the early 19th century up to 1940. Vol 8. Manufacturing industry 1870-1942. Amsterdam, 1987. 224 pp. - C.L.J. van der Meer, Akira Suehiro, Capital accumulation in Thailand 1855-1985, The Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, Tokyo, 1989. xviii + 427 pp., maps, figs, app. - Niels Mulder, Nancy Eberhardt, Gender, power, and the construction of the moral order: Studies from the Thai periphery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monograph 4, 1988. viii + 100 pages, softcover. - Gert Oostindie, Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Wit over zwart; Beelden van Afrika en zwarten in de Westerse populaire cultuur. Amsterdam: Koninklijk Insituut voor de Tropen, 1990. 259 pp., ills. - Gert Oostindie, Raymond Corbey, Wildheid en beschaving; De Europese verbeelding van Afrika. Baarn: Ambo, 1989. 182 pp., ills. - R. Ploeg, Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent conquests; Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. xi + 243 pp. - S.O. Robson, Luigi Santa Maria, Papers from the III European Colloquium on Malay and Indonesian Studies. Istituto Universitario Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi Asiatici (Series Minor XXX). Naples 1988. 276 pp., Faizah Soenoto Rivai, Antonio Sorrentino (eds.) - R.A. Römer, J.M.R. Schrils, Een democratie in gevaar; Een verslag van de situatie op Curaçao tot 1987. Van Gorcum, Assen: 1990. xii + 292 blz. - Patricia D. Rueb, Han ten Brummelhuis, Merchant, courtier and diplomat: A history of the contacts between the Netherlands and Thailand, Lochem, 1987, 116 pp., illustrated.

We assessed the roles of automated environmental monitoring technology in the sustainable use of agricultural ecosystem services in the Karjaanjoki River catchment area in Finland by examining the mental models of 39 farmers participating in an environmental monitoring platform. The monitoring data served the farmers in their decision-making and risk management, in addition to holding a potential for environmental research and monitoring. The farmers’ main interests, however, lay in finding cost-efficient agricultural practices, not in environmental monitoring or management as such. Greater familiarisation of users may enhance the usability of technology. Fundamental functional deficiencies, however, can only be remedied by further development. Participatory planning and the study of farmers’ mental models should thus be applied already in the designing stage. In future, new technologies should be integrated into farmers’ mental models, so as to facilitate, complement and correct traditional models of sustainability.

Mental models of nature provide orientation both for the executors of development projects as well as for the local participants. The dominating models are ones that draw a sharp line between nature and culture. We examine the foundations of these models, and propose that when encountering different kinds of models, precautions must be taken in order to enable negotiated sustainable development projects. We draw on our fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon in order to illustrate the difference between distinct models of nature. We propose that sustainable development practices require negotiation processes, where different models of nature are fused into shared knowledge.

Corporate responsibility amounts to taking into consideration conditions and effects that are systematically linked to corporate action. Systems thinking and its variants offer tools for understanding and managing the multitudes of conditions and effects that constitute corporate responsibility. We look first at the general tools of systems thinking, and then at a case of Finnish forest industry, and assessment of four particular systemic concepts that could be used to improve corporate environmental management: life cycle assessment, regionality, industrial ecosystem and ecosystem services. We conclude that systems thinking in one form or in another is a precondition for balanced economic, social and environmental management.

Michael Taussig has constructed the prevalence of evil in the South American folklore as a sign of alienation [1]. Alienation has resulted from a change in the mode of production and the emergence of commodity fetishism. He proposes that the devil (an individual evil being) mediates the process in which the peasant mode of production is transformed into a capitalistic one; the devil expresses the workers' sense of bewilderment and of being threatened. In this essay I discuss the dialectics of evil in San Rafael, a Mestizo community in the Peruvian Amazon. In San Rafael, the peasant mode of production prevails (at least more so than in Taussig's examples), but other confrontations (which probably echo the up? coming changes in the mode of production) seem to feed and shape a rich folklore of evil. The confrontation between the people and the health care system, on the one hand, and amid different religious sects, on the other hand, are mediated by symbols of evil. These distinct contradictions are not totally separated from each other. The distribution of evil constituted by the catolicos sees evil as a matter of fact, as an intrahuman affair, which causes illness not curable in health centers, originates in envy and which is likely to stay within bearable limits if people interact in terms of economic justice.

No abstract available

The best means of integrating socio-cultural dimensions into the study and politics of sustainable development are through the ethnographic analysis of cultural models and patterns of behaviour. This is particularly mandatory in those contexts where the perception of reality is radically different from the Western point of view. We illustrate how the understanding of the Amazonian embodied thinking about relating to other subjects helps to comprehend their sustainable lifestyles and interaction within a natural environment. Through their bodies, the Amazonian native peoples and mestizos try to control and form a subjectivity that today is reflected in their striving to have better education, contemporary rites of passage and new skills that are appreciated when learned in their interaction with the dominant society. This means that the ‘traditional’ cultural models and patterns of behaviour are reproduced in interaction with new non-native actors, and the conditions for sustainable development consequentl...