Subham Mukherjee

Subham is currently holding a Research Scientist position at the department of Earth Sciences – Physical Geography, Freie Universität Berlin, working on The Einstein Research Unit Climate and Water under Change (CliWaC) project – a transdisciplinary research initiative of the Berlin University Alliance to address water-related risks under climate change. His main focus is on ecosystem services of urban parks and green spaces within Berlin. Ecosystem services (ES) are commonly valued in monetary terms for ease of incorporation into the decision-making process, and do not tend to take into account the value of ecologies, from a non-human point of view nor of the value ecosystems may have for marginalized groups in societies. So far in literature, the less tangible benefits obtained from ecosystems have commonly been referred to as cultural ecosystem services (CES). CES are consistently recognized but not yet adequately defined or integrated within the ES framework. Furthermore, we argue that the way in which CES is defined and applied is too narrow. A central theme of this proposed talk will be that in academia (at least) scientists need to think „beyond queer space“ while considering ES, specifically CES, because LGBTQIA+ populations are more diverse and dispersed than the white gay male populations that created many of the most visible ‚gayborhoods‘.