National assessment of cultural ecosystem services: Participatory mapping in Switzerland

Previous studies assessed cultural ecosystem services (CES) at the local scale but often ignored them in national assessments. This paper explores CES relationships in Switzerland using web-based participatory mapping. We identified the spatial relationships between CES, the drivers of negative change and solutions to mitigate it. Results indicated that CES tend to have positive spatial relationships, although not always significant. A proxy-based approach supported the findings that the provision of heritage and inspiration services decreased along the urban–rural gradient while others increased. Participants located more CES close to their residence, but acknowledged their presence in distant alpine regions. They reported that better planning and stricter implementation of policies were necessary to refrain CES loss. According to respondents, there might be a density threshold to ensure sustainable supply of CES. Although mitigation measures were specific enough at the national scale, they remained too broad to be applicable at the local scale.