Developing Effective Wellbeing Indicators for People and Nature: How Biocultural Approaches Can Facilitate Sustainable Management of Social-Ecological Systems

ce, adaptive capacity, or well-being. We performed quantitative (e.g., number of indicators and categories, geographic scale) and qualitative (e.g., assessing methods of indicator development and application) analyses; we also held workshops and visioning exercises with communities in the Pacific to gain perspective on local values and management priorities. We explore case studies, in both European and non-European contexts, where a biocultural approach has been successfully implemented. For instance, one such framework developed in Melanesia assesses crucial aspects of the "traditional economy," such as resource access, cultural practice, and community vitality, which are foundational to Melanesian people's well-being. We also identify discrepancies between local management priorities and the systems currently in place from national and international frameworks; for example, indicator sets that emphasize incentives (e.g., subsidies) can encourage accumulation of goods and currency without previously considering or acknowledging alternative local communities' values and worldviews, and thus potentially undermine traditional practices and sustainable production. Lastly, we discuss some of the limitations and challenges in using a biocultural approach for indicator development (e.g., measuring intangible cultural elements of a system, crafting indicators that can assess feedbacks, prohibitory costs, meaningful and equitable collaboration), and suggest potential solutions. Sterling, E. J., C. Filardi, J. Newell, A. Toomey, A. Sigouin, E. Betley, N. Gazit, et al. (2017). Biocultural approaches to well-being and sustainability indicators across scales. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1(12): 1798. Sterling, E. J., T. Ticktin, T. Morgan, G. Cullman, D. Alvira, P. Andrade, N. Bergamini, et al. 2017. Culturally grounded indicators of resilience in social-ecological systems. Environment and Society 8:63-95.