Plural Valuation of Nature in a Peri-Urban Mountain Trail: An Exploratory Analysis Using Principal Component and Cluster Analysis
Abstract
This study examines how visitors to a peri-urban mountain trail organize the ecological, hydrological, recreational, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of nature valuation.
An exploratory quantitative design analyzed eight five-point ordinal items from 22 visitors to Bogotá’s Kilómetro 11 trail, Colombia. Principal component analysis was used descriptively to examine associations among valuation dimensions, and k-means clustering was applied to the scores of the first two components to explore provisional respondent configurations. The analyses were not intended to validate the latent structure or establish population-level typologies.
All eight dimensions obtained mean scores above the scale midpoint. The first component revealed a shared association pattern across dimensions, while the second positioned cultural, spiritual, and hydrological meanings apart from biodiversity, recreation, landscape, and air quality, with ecological connectivity occupying an intermediate position between them. The selected three-cluster solution provided a provisional description of three overlapping respondent configurations.
This study advances plural valuation research by examining how multiple dimensions are jointly organized rather than treating them as isolated preferences. It connects the IPBES plural-value framework with a visitor-based multivariate analysis in a peri-urban mountain setting.
The small, non-probabilistic sample may affect the stability of the PCA loadings and cluster assignments. These findings should be interpreted as provisional patterns that require validation with larger, heterogeneous, and independent samples.
The results suggest that environmental interpretation and trail management should combine water-related meanings, biodiversity, landscape, cultural significance, and responsible recreation rather than assuming a homogeneous visitor profile.
References
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Arias-Arévalo, P., Martín-López, B., & Gómez-Baggethun, E. (2017). Exploring intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values for sustainable management of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 22(4), Article 43. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09812-220443
Chan, K. M. A., Balvanera, P., Benessaiah, K., Chapman, M., Díaz, S., Gómez-Baggethun, E., Gould, R., et al. (2016). Why protect nature? Rethinking values and the environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(6), 1462–1465. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1525002113
Díaz, S., Pascual, U., Stenseke, M., Martín-López, B., Watson, R. T., Molnár, Z., Hill, R., et al. (2018). Assessing nature's contributions to people. Science, 359(6373), 270–272. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap8826
Elmqvist, T., Setälä, H., Handel, S. N., van der Ploeg, S., Aronson, J., Blignaut, J. N., Gómez-Baggethun, E., Nowak, D. J., Kronenberg, J., & de Groot, R. (2015). Benefits of restoring ecosystem services in urban areas. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 14, 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.05.001
Everitt, B. S., Landau, S., Leese, M., & Stahl, D. (2011). Cluster analysis (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470977811
Gómez-Baggethun, E., & Ruiz-Pérez, M. (2011). Economic valuation and the commodification of ecosystem services. Progress in Physical Geography, 35(5), 613–628. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133311421708
Grubert, E. (2018). Relational values in environmental assessment: The social context of environmental impact. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 35, 100–107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.10.020
Haase, D., Larondelle, N., Andersson, E., Artmann, M., Borgström, S., Breuste, J., Gómez-Baggethun, E., et al. (2014). A quantitative review of urban ecosystem service assessments: Concepts, models, and implementation. Ambio, 43(4), 413–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0504-0
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2022). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Himes, A., & Muraca, B. (2018). Relational values: The key to pluralistic valuation of ecosystem services. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 35, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.09.005
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2022). Methodological assessment report on the diverse values and valuation of nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (P. Balvanera, U. Pascual, M. Christie, B. Baptiste, & D. González-Jiménez, Eds.). IPBES Secretariat. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7701873
Jacobs, S., Dendoncker, N., Martín-López, B., Barton, D. N., Gómez-Baggethun, E., Boeraeve, F., McGrath, F. L., et al. (2016). A new valuation school: Integrating diverse values of nature in resource and land use decisions. Ecosystem Services, 22, 213–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.11.007
Jolliffe, I. T., & Cadima, J. (2016). Principal component analysis: A review and recent developments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374(2065), 20150202. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2015.0202
Kabisch, N., Qureshi, S., & Haase, D. (2015). Human-environment interactions in urban green spaces: A systematic review of contemporary issues and prospects for future research. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 50, 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2014.08.007
Kenter, J. O. (2016). Integrating deliberative monetary valuation, systems modelling and participatory mapping to assess shared values of ecosystem services. Ecosystem Services, 21, 291–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2016.06.010
Kenter, J. O., O'Brien, L., Hockley, N., Ravenscroft, N., Fazey, I., Irvine, K. N., Reed, M. S., et al. (2015). What are shared and social values of ecosystems? Ecological Economics, 111, 86–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.01.006
Kleespies, M. W., Hahn-Klimroth, M., & Dierkes, P. W. (2025). Relational values of nature: A global empirical study of environmental students in 37 countries. Ecology and Society, 30(4), 3. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-16513-300403
Kondolf, G. M., & Pinto, P. J. (2017). The social connectivity of urban rivers. Geomorphology, 277, 182–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.09.028
Luque-Lora, R. (2024). IPBES: Three ways forward with frameworks of values. Environmental Science & Policy, 159, 103827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103827
Madrigal-Martínez, S., Gielen, E., Miralles i García, J. L., & Parra-Rondinel, F. (2025). Enhancing land planning: A quantitative review of relationships between cultural ecosystem services and peri-urban areas. Cities, 156, 105519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105519
Muradian, R., & Pascual, U. (2018). A typology of elementary forms of human–nature relations: A contribution to the valuation debate. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 35, 8–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.10.014
Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., & Christie, M. (2023). Editorial overview: Leveraging the multiple values of nature for transformative change to just and sustainable futures: Insights from the IPBES Values Assessment. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 64, 101359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101359
Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Anderson, C. B., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Christie, M., González-Jiménez, D., Martin, A., et al. (2023). Diverse values of nature for sustainability. Nature, 620(7975), 813–823. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06406-9
Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Díaz, S., Pataki, G., Roth, E., Stenseke, M., Watson, R. T., et al. (2017). Valuing nature's contributions to people: The IPBES approach. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26–27, 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2016.12.006
Raymond, C. M., Fazey, I., Reed, M. S., Stringer, L. C., Robinson, G. M., & Evely, A. C. (2010). Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management. Journal of Environmental Management, 91(8), 1766–1777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.03.023
Ricart, S., & Kirk, N. (2022). Hydrosocial research for better understanding, managing, and modeling human–nature interactions. Frontiers in Water, 4, Article 1025040. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.1025040
Say, D. (2021). A Cluster Study of Community-Based Tourism Terminology. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 12(8), 2082 - 2095. https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6652
Suarez, A., Ruiz-Agudelo, C. A., Arias-Arévalo, P., Flórez-Yepes, G. Y., Arciniegas, N., Vargas-Marín, L. A., et al. (2022). Recognizing, normalizing and articulating: An approach to highlight plural values of water ecosystem services in Colombia. Heliyon, 8(9), e10622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10622
Vatn, A., Pascual, U., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Termansen, M., Arias-Arévalo, P., Balvanera, P., Athayde, S., Hahn, T., & Lazos, E. (2024). Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making: Theory and practice. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 379, 20220315. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0315
Zambrano-Monserrate, M. A., & Tarupi-Montenegro, E. (2024). Citizens' cultural values and urban green spaces in Colombia: An experimental analysis. Cities, 153, 105267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105267
Published
2026-08-28
How to Cite
VERGARA, Johana Regino; OROZCO, Jainet Orlando Bernal.
Plural Valuation of Nature in a Peri-Urban Mountain Trail: An Exploratory Analysis Using Principal Component and Cluster Analysis.
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, [S.l.], v. 17, n. 3, p. 268 - 286, aug. 2026.
ISSN 2068-7729.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/9614>. Date accessed: 02 sep. 2026.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14505/jemt.v17.3(83).04.
Section
Article
Copyright© 2025 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2025. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.