The protection of natural resources by strict rules at various legal statuses can generally cause damnification for the local people who are the users of this resource. In case the benefit loss that happens by reason of the prohibitions and limitations that are brought related to the usage of the resource is not corrected and local awareness is not created; negative local perceptions can come out pertinent to this resource and in connection with this, hostile attitudes arise related to the resource that is taken under protection. This case is a significant obstacle in front of being able to provide local participation for resource management. In this study the factors that negatively or positively affected the formation of the perceptions of the local people related to the protected areas are studied with the example of Kovada Lake National Park (KLNP). According to the findings of the study, while 25% of the local people have a positive perception on Kovada Lake National Park, the rest has a negative perception. Statistically significant differences have been found between these two groups whose perceptions show differences in terms of the knowledge levels related to the National Park and some losses of benefit that they had for benefiting from it. Santrauka Dėl griežtų teisėsaugos institucijų taikomų gamtinių išteklių apsaugos taisyklių asmenys, naudojantys šiuos išteklius, gali patirti žalos. Dėl draudimų ir ribojimų prarandama nauda negrįžta, neišugdomas ir sąmoningumas. Pateikiamas kliūties, trukdančios vietiniams žmonėms dalyvauti išteklių valdyme, pavyzdys. Veiksniai, teigiamai ar neigiamai veikiantys vietinių žmonių sąmoningumą dėl saugomos teritorijos formavimo, analizuojami Kovados ežero nacionalinio parko pavyzdžiu. Tyrimų duomenimis, 25 % vietinių gyventojų teigiamai vertino Kovados ežero nacionalinio parko apsaugą, kiti – neigiamai. Statistiškai reikšminiai šių dviejų grupių vertinimo skirtumai buvo rasti pagal suvokimą, grįstą žiniomis apie nacionalinį parką ir praradus naudą. Резюме Охрана природных ископаемых на основании строгих правил, диктуемых различными природоохранными учреждениями, может наносить урон лицам, применяющим эти ископаемые. Из-за запретов и ограничений теряется польза от использования ископаемых и в то же время не воспитывается сознательное отношение к охраняемым территориям. В статье представлен пример главных факторов, мешающих местным жителям участвовать в управлении ископаемыми. Факторы, оказывающие положительное или отрицательное воздействие на формирование сознательного отношения местных жителей к охраняемым территориям, анализируются на примере национального парка озера Ковада. На основании данных исследований 25% местных жителей положительно оценивают охрану национального парка озера Ковада, остальные – отрицательно. Статистически значимые различия найдены между этими двумя группами людей, чье представление основано на знаниях о национальном парке и наносимом ущербе.

Context: Maintaining functional green infrastructures (GIs) require evidence-based knowledge about historic and current states and trends of representative land cover types. Objectives: We address: (1) the long-term loss and transformation of potential natural forest vegetation; (2) the effects of site productivity on permanent forest loss and emergence of traditional cultural landscapes; (3) the current management intensity; and (4) the social-ecological contexts conducive to GI maintenance . Methods: We selected 16 case study regions, each with a local hotspot landscape, ranging from intact forest landscapes, via contiguous and fragmented forest covers, to severe forest loss. Quantitative open access data were used to estimate (i) the historic change and (ii) transformation of land covers, and (iii) compare the forest canopy loss from 2000 to 2018. Qualitative narratives about each hotspot landscape were analysed for similarities (iv). Results: While the potential natural forest vegetation cover in the 16 case study regions had a mean of 86%, historically it has been reduced to 34%. Higher site productivity coincided with transformation to non-forest land covers. The mean annual forest canopy loss for 2000–2018 ranged from 0.01 to 1.08%. The 16 case studies represented five distinct social-ecological contexts (1) radical transformation of landscapes, (2) abuse of protected area concepts, (3) ancient cultural landscapes (4) multi-functional forests, and (5) intensive even-aged forest management, of which 1 and 4 was most common. Conclusions: GIs encompass both forest naturalness and traditional cultural landscapes. Our review of Pan-European regions and landscapes revealed similarities in seemingly different contexts, which can support knowledge production and learning about how to sustain GIs.

Angelstam, P., M. Fedoriak, F. Cruz, J. Muñoz-Rojas, T. Yamelynets, M. Manton, C.-L. Washbourne, D. Dobrynin, Z. Izakovičova, N. Jansson, B. Jaroszewicz, R. Kanka, M. Kavtarishvili, L. Kopperoinen, M. Lazdinis, M. J. Metzger, D. Özüt, D. Pavloska Gjorgjieska, F. J. Sijtsma, N. Stryamets, A. Tolunay, T. Turkoglu, B. Van der Moolen, A. Zagidullina, and A. Zhuk. 2021. Meeting places and social capital supporting rural landscape stewardship: A Pan-European horizon scanning. Ecology and Society 26(1):11. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12110-260111

Scientists express concern about increasing levels of greenhouse gases mainly due to fossil fuel consumption and deforestation. In response to the latter, policy-makers have introduced a range of policy measures to conserve and enhance forest ecosystems for carbon sequestration. The costs for policy measures to maintain ecosystem services can be calculated easily, but especially non-market/non-use benefits of forests are not easy to estimate. Economics can help designing climate change policies by eliciting public preferences on different attributes of climate change and carbon sequestration. This study was prepared for the purpose of identifying per capita consumer/equivalent surplus or maximum willingness to pay and the total economic value in relation to forests to be established in Turkey to reduce air pollution around cities, to prevent the adverse effects of climate change and to sequester carbon. The data for the estimation of maximum willingness to pay, total economic value and co-benefits of forests were collected with a questionnaire form prepared according to the contingent valuation method. Analyses have been conducted by correlation analysis and regression analysis. According to the analyses, per capita consumer/equivalent surplus or maximum willingness to pay to establish a new forest was estimated at US$ 23.52 on average, while total economic value was estimated at US$ 270,443,962.68.

The perspectives and attitudes of the companies of the forest products industry operating in the fields of solid wood products, pulp, paper and paperboard products, engineered wood products and furniture manufacturing in Turkey on the chain of custody certification system and certified forest products were investigated. Within this scope, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the managers or owners of 177 companies. The data were obtained by using the questionnaire technique. The research methods included descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance and the Duncan test. As a result, it was detected that there are differences in the perspectives and attitudes towards the chain of custody certification system of the companies operating in the four main branches of the forest products industry in Turkey. It was revealed by this survey that chain of custody (CoC) certification was known mostly by the companies operating in pulp, paper and paperboard companies. The certification most demanded is the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) CoC certification, with a share of 15%; and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) CoC is demanded by 2% of companies.

Mediterranean pastoral systems are providers of a wide array of Nature’s Contribution to People (NCP). They are ‘complex systems’ characterized by limited resources and socio-economic dynamics currently threatened by climate and social changes. Despite a growing number of scientific articles dealing with NCP, there is a high risk that the existing literature has left out the complexity of such systems. In the light of ongoing social, economic, and climatic changes in the Mediterranean basin, neglecting the complexity of pastoral systems can lead to significant research biases, missing the priorities affecting the stability and continuity of such systems. A combination of frameworks of analysis provided by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was applied to understand if and to what extent the complexity of Mediterranean pastoral systems has been considered in the available literature. Most of the 126 papers report studies conducted in the European Union zone (102 papers), with the majority in Spain (50). Fewer studies have been conducted in the Middle East (15 papers) and Africa zones (9 papers). Despite results confirming the importance of pastoral systems as providers of NCP, most of the eligible papers focused on regulating NCP. A lack of a multisectoral approach and integration of knowledge suggests that the complexity of Mediterranean pastoral systems has been overlooked by researchers. The creation of ‘hybrid knowledge’ bridging the expertise of different stakeholders could be the key ingredient to properly address the complexity of Mediterranean pastoral systems.