Abstract ID: 3.9776 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

The distribution of ecosystem services (ES) benefits among actors depends not only on landscape configuration but also on governance, institutions, processes, and structures that regulate access to and allocation of ES.
Different types of inequities have been highlighted by environmental justice scholars, with distributive – and, to a lesser extent, procedural – inequities receiving more attention than recognition. Stakeholders’ perceptions of these different types of environmental inequities are rarely studied, though they are crucial for understanding trade-offs between equity dimensions and assessing the social impacts and legitimacy of ES management policies, especially in areas with socio-ecological conflicts.
This study explores environmental inequities perceived by stakeholders in the Maurienne valley (France) regarding three key ES: agricultural production, biodiversity conservation, and outdoor recreation. We conducted 45 semi-structured interviews with ES beneficiaries and managers, focusing on their perceptions of inequities and their causes, including power asymmetries. We used content analysis to identify inequities mentioned in the interviews, as well as perceived winners, losers and underlying mechanisms. We examined how stakeholders’ perceptions varied depending on their scale of influence (i.e. regional, watershed, municipal…) and their sector of activity (e.g., NGOs, public sector, businesses, farmers, etc.), and how they could explain existing conflicts in the Maurienne Valley.
Our analyses reveal that procedural and recognition inequities are more frequently perceived and mentioned than distributive ones. This contrasts with the limited attention given to these dimensions in the environmental justice literature. Recognition and procedural inequities are often linked to interactions between ES, and differing views on which ES should be prioritized. This is particularly evident when stakeholders with different scales of influence hold conflicting preferences – for instance, tourists or NGOs at regional scale often prioritize environmental conservation, while local farmers or representatives tend to favor economic development.
These results highlight the importance of integrating perceptions of environmental inequities in policy design to ensure these policies are truly perceived as sustainable and fair, especially in mountain regions with multiple activities competing for land.