The idea of inclusive collective decision-making is important in establishing democratic legitimacy, but it fails when citizens are excluded. Stated-preference methods of valuation, which are commonly used in economics, have been criticised because the principle of willingness to pay may exclude low-income earners who do not have the capacity to pay. Deliberative valuation has been advocated as a way to overcome this problem, but deliberation may also be exclusive. In this review, two deliberative valuation frameworks are compared. The first is grounded on the idea of rational discourse that emphasises argument at the expense of other communicative strategies. It seeks to secure inclusion through procedural rules and prerequisites, but fails to address the underlying democratic limitation of argumentation. The second does not rely on the distinction between rational and rhetorical speech, and therefore admits alternative forms of communication. This approach recognises differences in the communicative capacities and practices of those who take part in deliberation, and so is better equipped to improve, though not to guarantee, inclusion.

It is an increasingly accepted idea that biological diversity stabilizes ecosystem processes and the services they provide to society. By reducing biomass fluctuation, biodiversity could mitigate the impact of changing environmental conditions on rural incomes as long as people exploits a diverse set of natural assets. This effect is analogous to the risk-spreading function of financial portfolios. This paper presents evidence of the portfolio effect for an open-access artisanal fishery in an estuarine ecosystem, located in a Colombian Biosphere Reserve. Using catch statistics from 2002 to 2018, we evaluate the contribution of catch diversity to the stabilization of fishing income. We find that changes in catch composition are related to seasonal and interannual variations in salinity conditions. The portfolio effect arises from asynchronous fluctuations of fish species due to fluctuating environmental conditions. Catch diversification, instead of specialization, help achieve resilient fisheries.

From a comprehensive diagnosis of the associated basins, islands, and wetlands of the coastal lagoon system of Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta, Colombia, this work describes feasible options for the recovery of its ecosystem’s health and ecological resilience. Firstly, the state of the coastal lagoon was assessed, finding that hydrology, wave climate, and the morphological changes of the coastline explain recent changes in the coastal wetlands. Key variables were used to describe the level of conservation or degradation of the coastal lagoon system and to identify measures to improve its ecological functions. Finally, to mimic some of these functions and improve connectivity of the ecosystems, green infrastructure alternatives were proposed for the short and medium term to recover the services of these ecosystems and restore their resilience.

Deliberative monetary valuation (DMV) methods can support environmental decision making by enabling the exchange of arguments and information to produce more democratic outcomes. The product of a valuation may be an array of expressions of willingness to pay (WTP) by individuals or a collectively agreed monetary value. Concerns have been raised, however, as to whether this product is an outcome of thoughtful and independent decision-making or influenced by social pressures to conform. Our study examines this issue and addresses concerns about the use of DMV, based on a public deliberation of forest conservation in Colombia. We analyzed the impacts of social conformity on WTP under two different decision scenarios: individual and collective. The results suggest that the impacts of social conformity are greater when a collective decision is required. These findings indicate that tensions between the differing goals of DMV could undermine its democratic promise.