Animals as Natural Wealth: Heterogeneity and Inequality in the Valuation of Natural Wonders

The term “cultural wealth” has been used to refer to a place’s symbolic associations that might confer on it economic benefits. One form of cultural wealth is a place’s natural wonders, which might boost tourism or bring reputational prestige. While scholars have shown how Eurocentrism shapes cultural wealth’s distribution and evaluative criteria, heterogeneity in the valuation of “natural” wealth has been underexamined. Using regression analysis of text and image data from UNESCO’s official website, I investigate patterns in the valuation of “natural” sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Specifically, I examine the role of nonhuman animals in the construction of these sites’ value. Methodologically, animals are useful because they are less spatially patterned than other sources of natural value; whereas only certain countries can boast of mountain peaks, seascapes, or rainforests, every country has some animal life that it might claim as natural heritage. Nonetheless, my analysis finds consistent associations between a country’s Gross Domestic Product and the importance of animals to its natural wonders, indicating animals are more centrally connected to “natural wealth” in regions of lower material wealth. These patterns shed light on the role of nature in the global distribution of cultural wealth and its persistent inequalities.