New methods to measure the social and cultural values attached to ecosystem services are being developed and tested within the context of the exemplars.

Specific attention has been  given to those services where existing economic valuation methods are ineffective. These include cultural services, in which underlying, often intangible social and cultural values play a major role.

The extent to which these values can inform the development of alternative ecosystem services policy instruments and facilitate decision-making processes is under investigation to support the development of instruments that fully account for the social and cultural values attached to ecosystem services.

Temporal and spatial dimensions are being addressed explicitly as social values tend to differ by social groups, region and change in time. These analyses also address critical thresholds in service supply as perceived by society.