Cultural Ecosystem Services Research Progress and Future Prospects: A Review

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs) are direct influences on human well-being and sustainable development, and they have become increasingly important in the development and progress of society. This paper reviewed 1248 papers on CESs by using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. On this basis, we also reviewed 179 selected empirical papers related to this field, with regards to geographical locations, study objects, evaluation methods, and categories. The results show that: (1) the number of publications related to cultural services has increased year by year, and Ecosystem Services, Ecological Indicators, and Sustainability are the top three journals with the greatest amount of research published; (2) ecosystem services, benefits, management, and social–ecological systems are perceptions closely related to CES research, which are also popular topics in the field; (3) the results of a keyword detection show that the cultural landscapes, patterns, mental health services, social value, and other keywords were popular keywords used from 2005 to 2021; (4) CESs have mainly attracted the attention of many developed countries, and the cultural services in cities, oceans, and coastal areas have become the focus for researchers; (5) the recreation and ecotourism, and aesthetic values are the common categories of the CES empirical studies, while the knowledge system and the cultural diversity are the two categories with the least amount of research; (6) the evaluation methods of CESs are mostly carried out using a traditional questionnaire and interview, but mapping and modeling methods have been widely used in recent years.