Approaches to equity research in iDiv

A wide range of studies investigated the mismatch between ecosystem´s supply of services and society´s demand of these services. However, there is little research on the distribution of these ecosystem services among different groups of stakeholders and on how inequity might hinder the access to those ecosystem services. Inequity is one of the pivotal social challenges of our epoch, with far-reaching ramifications for human well-being. It often results from unfair procedural and distributive justice systems and infiltrates many domains of social life, including income distribution, gender, education and the risks of environmental hazards or unequal access to natural capital, ecosystem services among and within countries and socio-economic groups. Inequity is also a multidimensional concept of ethical concern, used synonymously with fairness and justice. Because of the multiplicity of approaches and dimensions, clear methodologies of how to explore and assess levels of inequity are not fully developed yet. In this session we would like to bring together several groups of iDiv investigating different aspects and approaches to equity in access to ecosystem services, natural resources, land tenure or related. We welcome participants with expertise in different dimensions of equity, namely, distribution (e.g. economic or income), procedural (governance) and contextual (including recognition). Participants could bring case studies, methodological and theoretical research (e.g. inequity vs inequality), or applied research into policy change and management. The session will be composed of short (5´) talks by representatives of the different iDiv groups, followed by a discussion to identify complementarities and opportunities for collaboration across groups.