Failure of mainstream well-being measures to appropriately reflect the well-being of Indigenous and local communities and its implications for welfare policies (original) (raw)

Most current well-being measures ignore the contributions of natural systems in people’s well-being. Evaluating the role of natural resources in well-being is particularly important for many Indigenous and local communities to appropriately reflect their well-being and to inform future welfare policies. It is well acknowledged that Indigenous and peoples’ values and customs are well integrated with natural systems, and inclusion of these nature-related attributes into well-being measures is required to accurately measure Indigenous/local well-being. This study reviews the available well-being frameworks from global as well as from local—Australian perspectives; and proposes a holistic approach to assess the role of natural systems for human well-being using how Indigenous and local peoples’ social, economic and ecological values, and capabilities relate to natural systems, that can inform broader human well-being attributes. Both, Capability and the Millennium Assessment Approaches ...