Garrido, Pablo
- School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Ecosystem services (ES) research is currently widely utilized. However, qualitative approaches and socio-cultural valuations of ES are still limited. This may undermine future landscape conservation initiatives because important services for people may not be captured. We performed 29 face-to-face semi-structured interviews to capture stakeholders' perceptions of ES from the largest area with oak wood-pasture landscapes in Sweden (Ostergotland County). A total of 34 ES were mentioned, and compared among stakeholders from public, private and civil sectors at local and regional levels of governance. Cultural ES were highlighted the most by respondents from both levels of governance. At the local level, respondents appreciated especially provisioning services. In contrast, regional level respondents showed more appreciation for supporting services. Private sector stakeholders emphasized provisioning ES, whereas the civil and public sector stakeholders highlighted cultural ES in terms of recreational values and landscape beauty. Supporting ES were considered only in relation to biodiversity, especially species and habitats linked to old oaks. Farmers and farming activities (especially grazing regimes) are crucial to support important oak wood-pasture ES. We discuss important ES as expressed by stakeholders and challengestor wood-pasture conservation in Sweden and elsewhere. To integrate the different demands of stakeholder groups into policy, enable cross-sectorial flexibility and policy regional adaptation for wood-pasture conservation, are current challenges future research should focus upon. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
Oak wood-pastures; Biodiversity; Cultural services; landscape beauty; Socio-cultural valuation; Qualitative research
Published in
Landscape and Urban Planning
2017, volume: 158, pages: 96-104
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
SLU Authors
Angelstam, Per
- School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Elbakidze, Marine
- School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- School for Forest Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Agricultural Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.08.018
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/79190