Attitudes towards biodiversity conservation and carbon substitution in forestry: a study of stakeholders in Sweden

Sammanfattning

Global change has fueled debates on forest use and management, including the need to adapt management to mitigate future risks in forestry. Additionally, forests are important for biodiversity conservation and could be used in climate change mitigation. The opinions of stakeholders towards acceptable forest use deserve consideration. This study examined relations between environmental problem awareness, forest beliefs and environmental management attitudes (biodiversity conservation and carbon substitution) among stakeholders in Sweden, and explored the effect of a local biodiversity versus global climate change frame on attitudes. Stakeholders were recruited from ownership and environmental/recreational interest groups (owner and nature group, respectively) (membership sample) and among students (student sample). Whereas the owner group was more positive towards carbon substitution in forestry, the nature group was more positive towards biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. In the membership sample, awareness of biodiversity loss and eco-social forest beliefs influenced attitudes towards biodiversity conservation. In contrast, positive attitudes towards carbon substitution stemmed from lower awareness of biodiversity loss, less emphasis on openness towards new methods in forestry and greater emphasis on production in forestry. While framing did not influence attitudes, the cognitive hierarchy was useful in providing a nuanced understanding of stakeholders, valuable for policy and practice.

Nyckelord

climate mitigation; carbon sequestration; cognitive hierarchy model; environmental management attitudes; forest stakeholders

Publicerad i

Forestry
2019, Volym: 92, nummer: 2, sidor: 219-229

SLU författare

• Klapwijk, Maartje

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

Framtidens skogar (tom Jan 2017)
SLU Future Forests


Globala målen

SDG12 Hållbar konsumtion och produktion
SDG13 Bekämpa klimatförändringarna
SDG15 Ekosystem och biologisk mångfald


UKÄ forskningsämne

Skogsvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpz003

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/98253