Mixed forests and ecosystem services: Investigating stakeholders' perceptions in a case study in the Polish Carpathians

Published Date
May 2016, Vol.66:11–17, doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2016.02.003

Author 

Gianluca Grilli ^a,b,,

Jaroslaw Jonkisz ^c

Marco Ciolli ^a

Jerzy Lesinski ^d

aDepartment of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

bEURAC Research, Institute for Renewable Energy, Bolzano, Italy

• cUjsoły Forest District, Ujsoły, Poland
• dInstitute of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, University of Agriculture, Krakow, Poland

Received 14 September 2015. Revised 17 February 2016. Accepted 19 February 2016. Available online 26 February 2016. 

Highlights

• This article analyzes relationships between stakeholders´perception about ecosystem services and mixed forests in a case study in Poland;
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  We collected data through a questionnaire survey and carried out a statistical analysis through an ordered logit model;
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  We found out that stakeholders with higher preferences for biodiversity, landscape and carbon sequestration tend to prefer mixed forests over monocultures;
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  We highlight that being an organized stakeholder, compared to other non-organized local dweller, increases the chance to prefer mixed forests to monocultures.

Abstract

Mixed forests are thought to provide a wide range of ecosystem services for human well-being and their effectiveness, compared to monocultures, is broadly recognized in the literature. Mixed forests may increase the multifunctionality, providing a wide range of ecosystem services such as hazard protection, carbon sequestration, nature conservation and landscape values. Before undertaking a process of conversion of monocultures into mixed forests it is important to learn about perceptions of local stakeholders for mixed forests in comparison to monocultures, in order to understand their needs and identify possible sources of conflicts. In the present work, we investigate the personal perceptions about the effectiveness of mixed forests when compared to monocultures, in terms of provisioning of ecosystem services, with the aid of an ordered logit model. In addition, we highlight the fact that belonging to a particular category of organized stakeholders contribute to perceive mixed forests positively, compared to non-organized local dwellers. Results show that people acknowledging the importance of some non-productive forest ecosystem services are more likely to prefer mixed forests. Moreover, personal attitudes towards ecosystem services seem to be much more related to the degree of preference for mixed forests than other socio-economic variables, such as gender and education. Finally, another evidence of this contribution is that belonging to a precisely defined group of stakeholders considerably increases the probability to prefer mixed forests, compared to ordinary citizens.

Keywords

Questionnaire survey

Ordered logit model

Zywiec Beskid

Mountain forests

Public preferences

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  Corresponding author at: Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.

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