The concept of ecosystem services (ES) was adopted in the 1960s (King, 1966; Helliwell, 1969) and refers to the processes and benefits that the ecosystem provides to humanity, with an emphasis on those with economic outcomes (Chaudhary et al., 2015) and it was coined by Paul and Anne Ehrlich in 1981 (4). The common definition of ES currently includes all of the material (e.g., monetary) and non-material (e.g., aesthetic, spiritual) elements directly and indirectly derived from the biodiversity of an ecosystem that support human wellbeing in a sustainable manner (Millennium ecosystem assessment, M. E. A., 2005; Wallace, 2007). Inherent in this definition is the notion that human well-being is strongly reliant on dynamic and healthy ecosystems and natural resources, which are responsible for the constant flow of ESs from the environment to humanity. These services are classified into four classes (King, 1966): provisioning ES to provide essential services (e.g., foods, building material, water) (Helliwell, 1969); regulating ES to monitor and maintain climate stability (e.g., disease control, coastal protection, flood control); (Chaudhary et al., 2015); supporting ESs (e.g., nutrient cycling, soil formation, pollination); and (Braat and de Groot, 2012) cultural ESs (CESs) that provide “the “intangible”, “subjective”, “non-use”, and “non-material” benefits people gained from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, intellectual development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experience (education, tourism) and they are difficult to quantify” (Leemans and De Groot, 2003; Millennium ecosystem assessment, M. E. A., 2005; Haines-Young and Potschin, 2011).

The nature conservation targets cannot be achieved formally protected areas alone, and thus, conservation must be integrated into the daily activities taking place on public and private lands namely, on lands designated for production (e.g., agricultural) and non-production (e.g., residential), respectively. Therefore, many global resource management initiatives include ES concepts to align ecological conservation with socio-economic decisions related to the environment (Tallis et al., 2011). For scientists and practitioners alike, ES has become 1) a crucial link between global ecological health with human wellbeing, 2) a currency through which to determine environmental and economic policies, 3) a conceptual link between the natural and social sciences, and 4) a mechanism with which to communicate the importance of nature conservation to policymakers and the general public (de Groot et al., 2002; Cowling et al., 2008; Carpenter et al., 2009; Tallis et al., 2011).

Mapping and valuing ES is increasingly used to provide visual tools that enable decision-makers to maximize the sustainability of future developments. Mapping ES is a growing trend and the number of studies and reviews on ES mapping are on the rise (Crossman et al., 2012). Brown et al. developed a landscape values approach and public participation geographic information systems (PPGISs) to map and measure landscape tangible and non-tangible ES values (Brown and Raymond, 2007; Raymond et al., 2009; Brown et al., 2012; Brown and Weber, 2013). ES mapping is a user-friendly, useful tool for raising public awareness about ecosystem areas of interest and ES delivery relevant to their region; it identifies how humans could rely on functioning nature and provides information about interregional ES flows (Raymond et al., 2009). Allocating ES hotspots has become an essential means of integrating ES into the process of ecological conservation assessment. ES hot-spots have been described as ecological features with high service diversity and high biophysical or monetary value of services that benefit humans; while cold spots are ecological features with few services and low value (Schröter and Remme, 2016; Li et al., 2017).

As mentioned earlier, CES is an essential subset of ES derived from landscapes, yet not thoroughly researched and not fully integrated into operational frameworks or in nature protection and landscape management programs (Satz et al., 2013). Considerably, relatively few studies focus on CES (Chan et al., 2012a; Milcu et al., 2013; Leyshon, 2014; Andersson et al., 2015; Hirons et al., 2016). This is partly due to the challenges of measuring intangible and subjective values and the complex nature of CES makes it hard to quantify. Most studies focus on recreation and ecotourism while far fewer on other CES categories (Hernández-Morcillo et al., 2013; Plieninger et al., 2013). However, CES identification and quantification remains an important tool for optimal landscape planning and effective ecosystem management (Davidson, 2013).

CES’s are sensitive to external impacts such as landscape changes and inappropriate management. Considering how different landscape features contribute to diverse CES provision is essential for effective landscape planning and management. This is also of interest when assessing landscape changes (Bieling et al., 2014; Plieninger et al., 2015). Consequently, the techniques being implemented in ES valuation and mapping are usually congregated in the related biophysical, socio-cultural, and economic domains (Martín-López et al., 2014). The socioeconomic status of the residents also influences which interventions are made for natural resource management; this variation is largely based on locals’ natural and socio-economic conditions (Cheung and Jim, 2013). This CES socio-cultural valuation is especially important for exploring human perceptions and their preferences among existing CES valuations (Martín-López et al., 2012).

Recent efforts toward measuring CESs in Jordan have identified some relevant trends and issues (Al-assaf et al., 2014; Alassaf et al., 2014; Shishany et al., 2020). Only a few studies have been conducted on valuing ES in Jordan in general, and on CES in particular, very few map CES and all of these were conducted on a local or landscape spatial scale (Al-assaf et al., 2014; Alassaf et al., 2014; Al-Assaf et al., 2016; Shishany et al., 2020). Social and natural science methods were combined and used to provide a holistic understanding of the socio-ecological system via the currency of ecosystem services in Wadi Araba (Sagie et al., 2013; Orenstein and Groner, 2015). Ecotourism’s as CES in WA (e.g., hiking, camping, photography and filming, mountain climbing, biking, walking, sand dunes, waterfalls, bird watching, historical sites, hunting, and camelback riding) have transformed the region into an attractive and desirable tourist destination. The local population in hyper-arid areas is firmly connected to the local landscape and ecosystem (Sagie et al., 2013). Therefore, this study aimed to integrate allocating and mapping CES hot-spots specifically for recreation and ecotourism from a public participatory approach in the arid region of the Wadi Araba valley in south Jordan.

Arid areas around the globe are relatively lacking in provisioning ESs despite having an abundance of CESs (Sagie et al., 2013). The demand for CESs is growing in industrialized societies (Guo et al., 2010) and these services have great potential to secure public support for protecting ecosystems (Guo et al., 2010; Weiler et al., 2013; Wolff et al., 2015). From a socio-ecological perspective, ecotourism and recreation are tightly coupled with the perception of the supply of and demand for CESs (Ruskule et al., 2018). The interrelated relationship between tourism and recreation derived from nature and society mutual influences each other (Mehring et al., 2017). Our results demonstrate that the Wadi Araba desert provides over 12 ecotourism practices that represent rich CESs. Local community members highlighted CESs that has been mentioned in other studies on arid landscapes (Figure 2) (Taylor et al., 2017; Cerda et al., 2018) In our previous study, the respondents emphasized the importance of these services for Wadi Arab with the average importance for all measured services ranging from 6 to 8 out of 10 (Al-Assaf et al., 2021). The dunes were rated by this sample population to be the most important activity in the region followed by hiking and camping (Al-Assaf et al., 2021). Respondents emphasized that CESs are products of both landscape diversity and biodiversity (Sagie et al., 2013). Surprisingly, ecotourism was less recognized by the respondents, with only 38.2% stating that eco-ecotourism could greatly benefit Wadi Araba and ecotourism need not focus only on wildlife and scenic landscapes but should also feature the elements related to Bedouin culture (Sagie et al., 2013; Al-Assaf et al., 2021).

The CES literature is mostly comprised of spatially explicit studies and information concerning human-environment interactions such as green space, (bio)diversity, and recreational infrastructure. A limited amount of documentation and information exists on how a specific landscape and its associated features and ecosystem properties contribute to public perception. Hence, nature protection planning and management programs are negatively affected in terms of deriving the benefits of the landscape (Scholte et al., 2015) due to the limited resources and bad implication of these programs. In addition to a theoretical understanding regarding the extent of CESs’ spatial overlap (i.e., CES hot spots), the findings described here have important practical implications for land use and conservation.

When financial resources are limited, it is vital to allocate hotspots and coldspots locations to help set priorities for maintaining essential ES (Braat and de Groot, 2012; Brown et al., 2012; Crossman et al., 2012). The KDE results in conjunction with the Getis-Ord Gi* statistics used to distinguish more clearly the hot-spot from the coldspot areas. While the KDE provides a visual representation of the hot-spots, hot-spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) identifies statistically significant hot-spots using numerical values (i.e., Getis-Ord Gi* statistic) (Braithwaite and Li, 2007). Most of the residents located hot-spots within or close to their villages, which are in the midst of ongoing development processes (Figure 4). The perception of residents of CES value is influenced by their distance to residential areas, the frequency of use, and their accessibility (Jaligot et al., 2019). Our results are in line with Wang et al. (2021) who found that the residential development process contributes positively to CESs (Wang et al., 2021). CESs hot spot mapping is an essential elements in the management and protection of cultural landscapes. Generally the hotspots are over represented in comparison to the coldspots. We recommend a future place-based environmental resource research incorporate more survey methodologies to ensure respondent rates are more proportional to overcome the bias. To avoid future damages, CES hotspots should get the priority of being conserved; while for the CES coldspots, targeted measures should be taken to improve the severe status quo by analysing and sorting out local drivers of CES conflicts and degeneration (Jiang et al., 2013).

Maps that spatially visualize cultural hot-spots encourage stakeholders and managers to promote and enhance the CESs of specific sites in the study area. The act of bringing stakeholder knowledge to the consciousness of decision-makers is now a cornerstone of the sustainability paradigm (Haberl et al., 2006) of developing more effective, socially-acceptable policies and assuring social equity (Wilson and Howarth, 2002). Stakeholder input is indeed a central tenet of sustainable management theory and should be put into practice whenever possible (Clark and Clark, 2002). Without stakeholder involvement and consultation, decision-makers cannot prioritize management decisions that align with the expressed needs of the public. Areas with low CES densities, in turn, motivate planners to pay special attention to the economics and priority of the ecological objectives of these sites. The residents’ perceptions of the CESs from an arid environment will grow if the tourism facilities grow and create jobs in the tourism industry (Dou et al., 2020).

Based on this preliminary research, we believe that the importance of CESs in arid regions, for example, are underestimated or missed entirely in ecological or economic assessments, despite being the most obvious and prominent ESs in social assessments (Sagie et al., 2013; Orenstein and Groner, 2015); therefore, it seemed crucial to map these services. The Wadi Araba Development Company will start to establish an integrated industrial development zone in Al-Risha (cold spot), a poor CES area. This new industrial zone will be based on light food processing industries. According to the company’s studies, this region is on the cusp of agricultural, industrial, water, and tourism development that will actualize the short- and long-term goals of Wadi Araba and Jordan. The residents of the area investigated in the current study do not object to any of the development plans in the region, as long as these plans consider the local community’s privacy, their traditional way of life and offer them jobs. Rationally, the respondents are being willing to contribute to the constant flow of CESs which agree with the finding of (Sagie et al., 2013; Orenstein and Groner, 2015) who reported that locals of the Wadi Araba exhibits a high affinity to the desert landscape, its mountains, and open spaces. Providing this information to policymakers would relay the individual determination to restore and sustain ecosystem services. Neglecting cultural values, practices, and services decreases the likelihood of successfully implementing development plans (Chan et al., 2012b). Using CES maps will help to pinpoint benchmarks with which to assess the long-term provisions of selected CESs under different development scenarios (Alcamo et al., 2005), which incorporates both national and local factors. ES maps can serve as baseline measures of CES provisions that can change based on the parameters of each development scenario. The national and local factors are analogous to indicators employed by Weinger et al. (2010) that consider the potential of various changes in local land use and their impact on ES provisions (Wainger et al., 2010). It is also important to create protected areas in the region to preserve the hot and cold-spot regions. Protected areas are often more likely to provide cultural and other ESs than non-protected areas (Dudley et al., 2014; Eastwood et al., 2016).

CES’s were mostly appreciated by the residents of the Wadi Araba region compared to other visitors of the region. The respondents reported their willingness to contribute to the constant flow of CESs. This information can serve to inform policymakers of their constituents’ determination to restore and sustain CESs. This study also demonstrates that even the harsh, dry environment of Wadi Araba is still valued among its residents. The estimated conservation value will be useful for future public policy decision-making and assist with the inclusion of ES principles in the development and implementation of these policies. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of engaging the beneficiaries and stakeholders in meaningful dialogues concerning arid ecosystem management; as such, participatory management strategies are optimal for the sustainable utilization of Wadi Araba resources. The CES maps generated using the data collected in this study provide baseline measures of CES provisions that are subject to change according to the parameters of each development scenario.

• These CES maps represent a promising means of assuring optimal land-use decision-making. Furthermore, our results enable managers to isolate and target specific individual CESs in their planning processes, which is important given that specific CESs may require more definite actions. For example, improving access to historical sites could serve to promote ‘social relations’, whereas improving the accessibility of open and blue spaces might enhance ‘inspiration’.