Stakeholders’ perceptions on ecosystem services in Östergötland’s (Sweden) threatened oak wood-pasture landscapes

Published Date
Landscape and Urban Planning
February 2017, Vol.158:96–104, doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.08.018

Author 

Pablo Garrido ^,

Marine Elbakidze 

Per Angelstam 

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Forest Sciences, School for Forest Management, PO Box 43, SE-730 91 Skinnskatteberg, Sweden

Received 18 November 2015. Revised 29 August 2016. Accepted 30 August 2016. Available online 9 November 2016.

Highlights

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  Landscape beauty, biodiversity and recreation and eco-tourism were the most mentioned ES.
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  Public, private and civil sector stakeholders perceived ES differently.
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  Local and regional level stakeholders valued different ES.
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  Farming activities such as cattle grazing are crucial to supply ES important for people.

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 (Östergötland 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 challenges for 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.

Keywords

Oak wood-pastures

Biodiversity

Cultural services

Landscape beauty

Socio-cultural valuation

Qualitative research

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Vitae

Pablo Garrido is a doctoral candidate. His research interests include wildlife ecology, landscape ecology, forest management and social-ecological systems.

Marine Elbakidze is associate professor and researcher (PhD in landscape ecology). Her research interests include landscape ecology, forest management, landscape governance and integrated spatial planning for sustainable development.

Per Angelstam is associate professor in zooecology and professor in forest and natural resource management. His research focuses on empirical studies of social-ecological systems with different landscape histories and governance systems.

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  Corresponding author.
  
  

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