Background and objectives: Successful policy implementation relies on understanding stakeholders’ willingness to contribute to policy goals. The EU Green Deal, with strategies on forests, biodiversity, and the bioeconomy, also depends on the performance of the forestry sector, including a significant portion of privately owned forests. Materials and methods: We conducted a nationwide survey among a sample of 341 private forest owners in Slovenia (total population of 424,086). The online questionnaire had three sections: (1) knowledge and priorities regarding ecosystem services and the bioeconomy, (2) a discrete choice experiment for eliciting preferences concerning the implementation of activities supporting strategic goals originating from EU Green Deal policies, and (3) socio-economic data and future forest management objectives. Results: The results indicated heterogeneity in preferences for performing activities on private forest lands to enhance specific forest ES that contribute to policy goals. More than half of the respondents (57.6%) exhibited a reluctance to implement activities and were skeptical of higher compensation payments, whereas the rest expressed an inclination towards changing their forest management. Conclusions: Slovenia’s private forest owners appear to be heterogeneous in their willingness to participate in a hypothetical ES enhancement scheme that could contribute to some EU Green Deal goals. Policymakers must recognize intrinsic motives and social norms that affect the willingness of forest owners to be engaged to increase the acceptance of solutions.

To address the climate crisis, the European Green Deal was adopted at the EU level, with the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Forest Strategy, and the EU Bioeconomy Strategy as flagship initiatives. Forests are a fundamental source of raw materials for most European bioeconomy strategies. The success of achieving the visions of a forestbased bioeconomy and, at the same time, the Green Deal, is highly dependent on the availability of renewable natural resources and other benefits provided by forests that are reflected in the state of their ecosystem services (ES) (i.e., provisioning, regulating and cultural). In a nationwide (Slovenia) survey of forest owners' preferences for European forest-related policies, we primarily examined the perceived importance of individual ES in relation to the bioeconomy. The sample was selected to be regionally representative according to the spatial distribution of forest ownership in the country and the age and gender structure of forest owners. We defined three key aspects related to European Green Deal policies, formulated three sets of statements on different forest ES, and on aspects and potential impacts of European policies for the bioeconomy, forestry, and biodiversity conservation. We assessed respondents' agreement with individual statements related to the willingness of owners to adapt their forest management (forest tending and wood use, biodiversity protection, introduction of non-native tree species). The sets of statements were complemented with questions on the forest owner's current forest management and objectives for future management, as well as socio-demographic characteristics.

The article presents the process of designing and testing an ecosystem-based governance model (EBGM). The EBGM is an innovative and highly participatory approach to addressing management challenges in protected areas. The implementation of the EBGM makes it possible to define a management approach that seeks to balance the interests of various stakeholders, ensure the long-term availability of ecosystem services, and meet the conservation goals of nature protection in important areas. The study focused on Natura 2000 sites affected by climate change (altered precipitation patterns, higher temperatures, more frequent natural disturbances, the spread of invasive alien species, etc.) while also facing management challenges (conflicting stakeholder interests, lack of management capacity, preparation of management plans, etc.). The EBGM consists of six elements, representing phases in the search for shared governance solutions. It incorporates seven fundamental principles and three key management dimensions. The model was developed iteratively and tested in practice through two participatory workshops involving key stakeholders of the Rački ribniki–Požeg Landscape Park, which, at the time of the study, was undergoing a revision of its protection act and the preparation of a management plan. The outcomes of testing the EBGM included the establishment of a stakeholder network, an assessment of the park’s importance for nature conservation and provision of ecosystem services, an evaluation of past and future development trends, and the delineation of management zones for the entire area of the park. The EBGM is sufficiently flexible to be applied in other contexts and under different ecosystem management regimes.