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Spiritual values are part of major global forest-related policies and strategies for sustainable forest management. Despite ongoing research and current debates, the significance of spiritual values in sustainable forest management in the Global North remains under-theorised. As Forest Management Plans represent an important nexus between policies and practices, this study clarifies the significance of spiritual values in forest management plans. We applied a conceptual framework with nine ‘dimensions of spirituality’ to investigate ten plans from British Columbia (Canada) and ten plans from the Netherlands, deploying qualitative analysis through descriptive coding in Atlas.ti. We elicited and compared the spiritual dimensions represented in the underlying principles, objectives, and operational sections of forest management plans for both geographical locations. Their widespread occurrence suggests that spiritual values are considered essential elements of sustainable forest policy and management in the Global North, also in contexts with non-Indigenous populations. We grouped the articulations of the spiritual dimensions in Forest Management Plans into three themes: ‘Nature Experience’, ‘Spiritual Use’ and ‘History’. A comparison of the spiritual dimensions across these themes and geographical locations yields the following insights: 1) spiritual values of forests are not only articulated in the strategic sections of forest management plans, but also in operational sections; 2) in management planning, forest spirituality is not only strongly related to experience, but also to the (‘wise’) use of forests and to forest-related history; 3) Spiritual values are better operationalised in adaptive forms of management planning than in formal ‘technical’ planning structures. This offers new ways of understanding the role of spirituality in forests management plans and contributes new insights to current debates in forest science.

Biocultural diversity is an evolving perspective for studying the interrelatedness between people and their natural environment, not only in ecoregional hotspots and cultural landscapes, but also in urban green spaces. Developed in the 1990s in order to denote the diversity of life in all its manifestations―biological, cultural and linguistic―co-evolving within complex socio-ecological systems such as cities, biocultural diversity was identified in the GREEN SURGE project as a response to recent challenges cities face. Most important challenges are the loss of nature and degradation of ecosystems in and around cities as well as an alienation of urban residents from and loss of interaction with nature. The notion of biocultural diversity is dynamic in nature and takes local values and practices of relating to biodiversity of different cultural groups as a starting point for sustainable living with biodiversity. The issue is not only how to preserve or restore biocultural practices and values, but also how to modify, adapt and create biocultural diversity in ways that resonate with urban transformations. As future societies will largely diverge from today’s societies, the cultural perspective on living with (urban) nature needs careful reconsideration. Biocultural diversity is not conceived as a definite concept providing prescriptions of what to see and study, but as a reflexive and sensitising concept that can be used to assess the different values and knowledge of people that reflect how they live with biodiversity. This short communication paper introduces a conceptual framework for studying the multi-dimensional features of biocultural diversity in cities along the three key dimensions of materialized, lived and stewardship, being departure points from which biocultural diversity can be studied.

Digital communication tools for information sharing are being increasingly used in governance, including green space governance and natural resource management and planning. Citizens’ resources in the form of knowledge, skills, as well as their collaboration with authorities have been identified in the governance literature as crucial elements in sustainable development. Technical advancement in internet communication technology (ICT) presents novel opportunities for engaging and leveraging civic knowledge and skills into different levels of governance. These options are still largely unexplored in governance research on urban green infrastructure (UGI). In this paper, we analyse three different digital tools (e-tools) from the perspective of a Scandinavian planning context. We explore how e-tools can support UGI governance and the perceived barriers. The e-tools explored are three digital platforms with a focus on public participation related to UGI. The three e-tools are map-based, i.e., users share information on digital maps: so-called Volunteered Geographic Information. Here, we call them place-based e-tools. We explore and analyse their adoption into UGI governance, the institutional contexts that affect them and also discuss potential of e-tools in place-based governance. Our findings indicate that the analysed tools all facilitate UGI governance in terms of engaging citizens in use, management, and planning of UGI. However, there are challenges to be aware of, such as the digital divide and the importance of clear participatory frameworks. We conclude that place-based e-tools have potential for UGI governance and that there is potential to strengthen links to ‘place’, while continuously testing and challenging new opportunities as technology rapidly develops.

Cities face growing challenges and urban greenspaces (UGS) play a key role in improving cities liveability. UGS are complex socio-ecological systems and evidence-based and context-sensitive tools are needed to assist planning and manage environmentally sound and socially inclusive UGS. In this paper, we propose an innovative indicator-based tool to operationalize the biocultural diversity (BCD) framework in urban contexts, deriving from its three conceptual layers – materialized, lived and stewardship. Indicators proposed are bundled in themes representing essential components when assessing and analyzing urban BCD from a contextual and sensitizing perspective. The set of indicators highlight key features of socio-cultural and ecological systems, theirs links and interactions, both material and non-material, to capture the essence of biocultural diversity at site-level. By offering a uniform scoring system with the possibility to set site-specific benchmarks, these can be used in any type of greenspace of any city, while allowing different communities/neighborhoods/city councils to embrace different approaches to meet their objectives towards larger scale goals. Twelve urban parks in Lisbon were used as a test-bed for the indicator-based tool and proved its feasibility to gather an overall snapshot of all parks and to demonstrate the possibility to deepen the study to only two parks uncovering self-exclusion processes that otherwise would have remained hidden. The BCD tool brings together essential information scattered over several quality and good practices assessment tools and protocols and, by including indicators specifically addressing governance and stewardship, offers a policy-driven instrument able to capture trade-offs and/or synergies between ecological, social and political domains.

International forest policies are increasingly recognizing spiritual values as criteria for sustainable forest management. However, knowledge on how spiritual values are articulated in practice is scarce. Because most evidence remains anecdotal, the study of spiritual values in forest management remains unsystematized and under-theorized. Research is complicated by the widely diverging interpretations of the concept of spirituality in relation to forests. Drawing upon Saler’s family resemblances approach (2000 [1993]) and the dimensions of religion posed by Smart (1996, 2002), a framework with seven dimensions is proposed. The framework structures spiritual phenomena relevant to forest management so that they can be studied systematically. It attempts to accommodate the various ontologies and epistemologies connected to spirituality in forest management. We discuss the pros and cons of the framework and make recommendations for its application in the analysis of forest management plans and practices.

This research was supported by the European Commission, 7th Framework Programme Grant GREEN SURGE collaborative project FP7-ENV.2013.6.2-5-603567, and by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) through a doctoral scholarship to P. Goncalves (PD/BD/106042/2015), and the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes - cE3c (UID/BIA/00329/2013, 2015-2018 and UID/BIA/00329/2019).

Within the last decades, cities have become more diverse in terms of people with different migration backgrounds, cultures and lifestyles, all living together. As it is considered that urban green spaces have important social benefits, this chapter examines how citizen engagement with urban nature acknowledges the needs and wishes of an increasingly diverse urban society. We focus on three forms of active citizen engagement in European cities, i.e., recreation, community gardening and community-led nature management. It is evident that health and wellbeing effects are abundant to all citizens. Besides, urban green spaces also provide many opportunities for residents to meet and interact with other people. These social interactions contribute to residents feeling that they belong in the community or neighbourhood they are living in. Both urban gardening and community-led nature management lead more often to the strengthening of existing friendships and development of new ones than recreation in urban parks does, also between culturally diverse groups. However, addressing cultural diversity might also lead to spaces of exclusion as the use of space by one group might exclude others. Consequently, it is essential to ensure that benefits are equitably shared and distributed. In order to do so, it is and will remain important to engage citizens from various cultural backgrounds and living environments with the planning and management of urban green spaces. This chapter examines how citizen engagement with urban nature acknowledges the needs and wishes of an increasingly diverse urban society. It focuses on three forms of active citizen engagement in European cities, i.e., recreation, community gardening and community-led nature management. Increased mobility and migration have made cities places where people from many different international and ethnic origins settle. Migration status, national origin and ethnicity are not the only dimensions that are increasing the heterogeneity and diversity of European cities. In Europe, recreation is a major ecosystem service of urban green spaces. The restorative function of nature was identified as a main benefit. Natural environments as settings where bonds with friends and family members can be strengthened is a second major social benefit that was identified. Despite a varied history, urban agriculture continues to be an integral part of European urban landscapes. Community gardening is more established in some European countries than in others.

Urban green spaces (UGS) provide multiple benefits, and public parks in particular have a key role in supporting ecological and social sustainability in cities, contributing to human-nature interactions. We studied the interrelationships between uses, experiences and the environment by adopting a novel concept of urban biocultural diversity (BCD). The concept identifies three interlinked spheres of urban BCD: materialised, lived and stewardship. We conducted place-based research in 33 parks located in four European capitals: Helsinki, Berlin, Bucharest and Lisbon. A total of 1474 visitors were interviewed concerning their motivations to use the park and their experiences during the visit. Using an open-ended survey, we revealed more than 50 motivations for park use and over 100 features people enjoyed during their visits. On the other hand, visitors mentioned far fewer things that disturbed them (60). We revealed that despite the fact motivations to use parks were strongly human-oriented, visitors widely enjoyed the environmental characteristics of parks, and especially nature. We found that parks located in neighbourhoods with low socio-economic status and outside the central area of the city were structurally less diverse than parks located in the city core. The structurally diverse parks enhanced motivations to use them, and increased overall enjoyments of the environment. We revealed clear differences in motivations and enjoyments between cities, implying that the day-to-day practices of people using and experiencing nature varies between cities. peerReviewed

Relational values reflect the qualities of the relationships between humans and nature, such as care, social bonding, place attachment and spiritual meanings. In this perspective article, we argue that understanding relational values is vital for nature conservation, and we identify how incorporation of these values may function as leverage points for achieving more effective nature policy. We discuss the distinctive features of the concept of relational values and elaborate how relational values strongly influence people’s perceptions of, engagement with and action for nature. Relational values can also provide important deep leverage points for policy interventions aiming to support citizen’s contribution to nature conservation, to strengthen biodiversity policy and the relationship between people and nature. Based on three realms of leverage (re-think, re-structure and re-connect), we distinguish six routes through which relational values can be integrated in policies and practices of nature conservation: (1) incorporation of pluralized meanings of nature; (2) the uptake of relational language in policy discourse; (3) a prioritization of landscape-based policy; (4) empowering citizens in nature conservation; (5) re-orienting nature education to stimulate people’s personal bond with nature; and (6) using digital technology to stimulate new relationships with nature.

The role of urban parks in delivering cultural ecosystem services related to outdoor recreation is widely acknowledged. Yet, the question remains as to whether the recreational opportunities of parks meet the demands of increasingly multicultural societies and whether recreational patterns vary at spatial scales. In a pan-European survey, we assessed how people use urban parks (in five cities, N = 3814) and how recreational patterns relate to respondents’ sociocultural and geographical contexts (using 19 explanatory variables). Our results show that across Europe (i) respondents share a general pattern in their recreational activities with a prevalence for the physical uses of parks, especially taking a walk; (ii) the geographic context matters, demonstrating a high variety of uses across the cities; and that (iii) the sociocultural context is also important; e.g., the occupation and biodiversity valuations of respondents are significantly associated with the uses performed. The sociocultural context matters particularly for physical park uses and is associated to a lesser extent with nature-related uses. Given that our results attest to a high variety of park uses between sociocultural groups and the geographical context, we conclude that it is important to consider the specific backgrounds of people to enhance recreational ecosystem services in greenspace development.

An increased involvement of citizens in the management of European green spaces raises questions about its contributions to nature conservation. In this research, we study the effects of different types of active citizenship in green space. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we look at the benefits of 50 green self-governance practices in which citizens aim to realize, manage or protect green space in the Netherlands. While most of these practices contribute to nature conservation (80%) and/or the conservation of cultural landscapes (50%), our analysis shows that the benefits of green self-governance are much broader. This includes so called ‘co-benefits’, social, cultural and economic benefits such as the use function of green for human activity (78%), environmental education (88%) and social cohesion (50%). The benefits and co-benefits of green self-governance strongly depend on the type of practice. Using a typology of green self-governance, we show that a majority of practices focuses on direct benefits to nature conservation through hands-on activities and/or political actions. However, we also show that this focus is regularly combined with efforts to realize co-benefits. Practices with an explicit focus on co-benefits often also produce benefits - and vice-versa. In this way, co-benefits can provide a first step towards the realization of more direct benefits to nature conservation. Even so, there are also tensions between benefits and co-benefits, for example when an increase of recreation negatively affects biodiversity values or when ‘wild’ nature is being replaced by a cultivated garden. Relating to co-benefits can be an effective strategy for governments or environmental NGO’s, but we have to be aware that the benefits generated by green self-governance are generally of a much smaller scale than those realized by ‘traditional’ managers of green space such as authorities.

Scholars observe an increased involvement of citizens in green space governance. This paper focuses on green self-governance, in which citizens play a major role in realizing, protecting and/or managing green space. While existing research on green selfgovernance focuses mostly on specific cases, we aim to contribute towards a large overview via an inventory of 264 green self-governance practices across The Netherlands. With this, we discuss the relevance of green self-governance for nature conservation and its relationship with authorities. In our analysis, we show that green self-governance practices are very diverse: they pursue a wide variety of physical and social objectives; employ a multitude of physical and political activities; involve different actors besides citizens; mobilize different internal and external funding sources; and are active within and outside of protected areas. While green selfgovernance can contribute towards protection and management of green space and towards social values, we highlight that this contribution is mostly of a local relevance. Most practices are small scale and objectives do not always match those of authorities. Although we speak of self-governance, authorities play an important role in many practices, for example, as financial donor, landowner or regulatory authority. In this, self-governance is often not completely ‘self’.

This paper discusses the long-term management or ‘place-keeping’ of urban green space by citizens and highlights enabling and constraining factors that play a crucial role in this continuity. While authorities have historically been in charge of managing public green spaces, there is an increased involvement of citizens in green space management. It is therefore relevant to study how citizens can contribute towards place-keeping and realize a continuity in managing and conserving the qualities of urban green spaces. We contribute to these debates by looking at three European cases characterized by long-term involvement of citizens in place-keeping. We conducted document analysis and interviewing of key informants to study green space management over time. Our analysis highlights what factors have contributed towards the continuity of this management, but also shows challenges and difficulties which citizens have experienced. Based on our fieldwork, we identify three factors of particular relevance for the continuity of place-keeping involving citizens. We found that long-term continuity is supported by a degree of formalization : established rules and procedures within groups provide stability to citizens. We also highlight the importance of adaptive capacity : citizens need to be able to adapt to contextual changes in order to cope with external political, socio-economic and cultural developments over time. The supporting role of authorities was also key in legitimizing and supporting place-keeping by citizens. Authorities can support place-keeping by citizens by providing security via stable policies, formally protecting the involved spaces, allowing long-term management contracts and contributing resources.

This paper focuses on understanding the transformative potential of active citizenship in green space governance. Through an in-depth case study, we show how citizens promoted the redevelopment of a brownfield into a green space, but eventually also contributed towards a broader co-creative shift in local governance. In this process, we highlight how a shift in citizens’ activities from contestation towards collaboration led to the uptake of citizen-driven discourses and activities in spatial planning. The social connectivity between governance practices is of key importance in this transformation—successful governance practices that involve active citizens can inspire others. Even so, transformation is often a slow and path-dependent process which also depends on an enabling policy environment. Cooperating with authorities provides citizens with power, but also requires alignment with official rules. Creating and maintaining effective partnerships will remain a challenge for citizens and policymakers that strive for societal transformations.

Active citizens may contribute to the environmental, social, and institutional resilience of cities. This review discusses how citizen initiatives protect biodiversity hotspots, contribute to social cohesion, institutional innovation, and diversity in urban green space management. Challenges related to social inclusiveness, ecological connectivity and continuity suggest government involvement is pertinent, but needs to be refocused. To maximise environmental outcomes of active citizenship, governments may adopt an enabling and stimulating governance style that harnesses the transformative potential of active citizenship. This paper argues for mosaic governance to work with the heterogeneous array of people, institutions, and spatial practices associated with active citizenship. Mosaic governance aims for a context-sensitive way of urban green infrastructure planning, enhancing relationships between the diversity of landscapes and communities across cities.

Traditionally, biocultural diversity (BCD) has been researched in non-western and indigenous societies. Recently, it has also been applied in urbanized and industrialized societies, in particular for the planning and management of urban green infrastructure (UGI). Diversity in human and biological systems is considered to support cities’ adaptation capacity. However, diversity might also increase the risk of conflicts. In this paper, we discuss not only how the BCD approach could strengthen studies on human–nature interactions in an urban context, but also the potential pitfalls of applying BCD. By means of two examples of BCD research, that is people in-places and people-making UGI in cities, we argue that BCD as a reflexive concept can strengthen UGI planning and management.

This chapter discusses how green places contribute to well-being and health through social cohesion. Social cohesion contributes positively to both mental and physical health and is influenced by neighbourhood characteristics (such as socioeconomic deprivation) and individual characteristics (such as age). As neighbourhood green spaces are often perceived as attractive places to visit, they provide ample opportunities for residents to meet other people and interact. These interactions form the basis of neighbourhood social cohesion. This chapter reveals that although people generally do not visit public green areas to meet strangers, they do like to engage in small talk with other visitors. These casual encounters appear to be very relevant as they create public familiarity, which results in feeling at home in a neighbourhood. Occasionally, this provides opportunities to perpetuate existing friendships and develop new ones. To facilitate neighbourhood social cohesion, the availability, functions, and quality of green areas are important.

Biocultural diversity, which refers to the inextricable link between biodiversity and cultural diversity, has been predominantly associated with the traditional ways in which indigenous people in tropical countries interact with the natural environment. But it does not have to be restricted to these circumstances. Biocultural diversity may also be regarded as an interesting concept for understanding how people in industrialized and globalized societies deal with nature. This paper explores biocultural diversity in 20 European cities by considering (i) how biocultural diversity is interpreted in urban planning and governance, and (ii) what actual manifestations of biocultural diversity are present in these cities. Despite the fact that the concept of biocultural diversity was hardly recognized by city authorities, interviewees gave many examples of how biodiversity and cultural diversity are taken into account in (in) formal city policies. The research revealed two main manifestations of biocultural diversity within urban Europe: biocultural diversity grounded in ecological features, and cultural values as a basic foundation for biocultural diversity. Consequently, urban biocultural diversity was found to have two spatial levels: the city level and the site level. The former is the domain of governmental policy makers who discuss biocultural diversity in 'green space networks' in a rather static way. The latter is the domain where citizens participate in decisionmaking and the management of green spaces; it is here that cultural dynamics are most acknowledged.

This report on public engagement with nature conservation between 1990 and 2017 focuses on public support for nature conservation and on policy discourses about public engagement. Based on a distinction between instrumental and idealistic motivations for engaging with the general public, three policy discourses on public engagement are described: Ecology First, Broadening and Embedding, and Co-creation and Economy. Although policy discourses and public opinion are influenced by a multitude of external factors, critical discourses on nature conservation policies seem to have contributed to a decrease in public support for nature conservation policies from 2006 onwards. The latest questionnaire results from 2017 suggest that public support for nature conservation policy is increasing. Meanwhile, most people do not consider nature conservation a priority for government policy. Dit rapport over vijentwintig jaar burgerbetrokkenheid analyseert de ontwikkelingen in publiek draagvlak tussen 1990 en 2017 in combinatie met de ontwikkelingen in het beleidsdiscours over burgerbetrokkenheid bij het Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit. Op basis van onderscheid tussen instrumentele en principiële argumenten voor natuurbescherming worden drie beleidsdiscoursen onderscheiden: Vanaf 1990 is het ‘Ecologie Voorop’ discours dominant geweest. Rond 2000 is tijdelijk het ‘Verbreding en Verankering’ discours belangrijk geweest en na een disruptie in 2011 zien we de opkomst van het ‘Co-creatie en Economie’ discours. Alhoewel beleidsdiscours en publiek draagvlak vooral door externe factoren worden beïnvloed, lijkt de maatschappelijke kritiek op het natuurbeleid een weerslag gehad te hebben op het publiek draagvlak voor het natuurbeleid vanaf 2006. In de draagvlakenquête van 2017 is zichtbaar dat het publiek draagvlak zich herstelt van de dip tussen 2006 en 2013. Tegelijkertijd blijken de meeste burgers natuurbescherming niet als een acuut beleidsprobleem te zien.

Nature conservation organizations in various Western countries, including the Netherlands, have noted that racial/ethnic minorities compared to Whites are “underparticipating” in recreation in natural areas and in nature conservation practices. Previous research trying to explain (under-)participation by racial/ethnic minorities in outdoor recreation and nature conservation mainly focused on characteristics of racial/ethnic groups. This study argues that nature conservation organizations themselves—although in all likelihood unintentionally—may play a role in participation of racial/ethnic minorities as well, through their promotional material. A content analysis of 22,974 pictures in magazines and on websites of four large Dutch nature conservation organizations shows that only 3.8% of the depicted people were non-White. Our results indicate that visual imagery of nature conservation organizations, at least in the Netherlands, (re)produces an image of outdoor recreation and nature conservation as being activities almost exclusively performed by Whites.

Understanding people’s way of thought on the natural environment may improve communication and collaboration between professionals and stakeholders from the general public. Focusing on similarities and differences between professionals and the public, this study investigates the relation between people’s way of thought and actual attitudes towards conservation measures. Based on an innovative hybrid of quantitative and qualitative research methods, we show that people’s thoughts on nature and landscape have a specific structure, consisting of clusters of normative (how we value it), experiential (how we experience it emotionally) and descriptive (how we define it) meanings. Although professionals and the public use similar structure of thoughts, the specific content and relevance of these thoughts differ significantly. Professionals referred to normative meanings four times more often than the public. Because analysis showed people’s general thoughts on nature informed concrete attitudes on conservation measures, these results have clear management implications. For example, we found important differences in the preferred conservation focus. Contrary to the professional focus on species, habitats and ecosystem health, the public tended to evaluate conservation measures on their effects on individual animals and trees and their consequences for scenic quality. Results may help practitioners to find common ground for discussing with critical groups in society. Expanding communication from predominantly normative arguments to include also the emotional connotations of nature may contribute to a shared emotional connection with the public that can be a powerful tool to overcome resistance and build shared visions on conservation issues.

People from all ethnic backgrounds spend some of their leisure time in green areas. This study found that urban parks are more inclusive green places than non-urban green areas, and that urban parks can promote social cohesion. The objective of the research was to establish the extent to which urban parks facilitate social cohesion and how social interaction and place attachment can contribute to such cohesion. Quantitative research (a survey) and qualitative research (observations and interviews) carried out in five urban parks in the Netherlands revealed that there are many similarities in the ways that ethnic groups use urban parks and in the meanings of such parks to these groups. Urban parks are sites where different ethnic groups mingle and where informal and cursory interactions can stimulate social cohesion. Furthermore, being involved and concerned with parks can facilitate attachment to these places. Urban parks can provide a vital locality where everyday experiences are shared and negotiated with a variety of people. The design of a park, its location and people's image of the park in combination with the cultural characteristics of various ethnic groups inform the opportunities for intercultural interactions.

Contemporary changes in rural Europe have been characterised by the contrasting terms of rural modernisation and productivism versus restructuring and post-productivism. This study investigates how different categories of owners of farm and/or forestland in 16 case study areas in eight European countries perceive future development. Landowners’ prospects for change are investigated on both the locality and enterprise level. Special attention is given to the role of forestry as a potential future development perspective. The results reveal that both restructuring and modernisation perspectives are important to many landowners. Moreover, a polarisation seems to be developing between a minority of full-time farmers with progressive farming prospects and the vast majority of landowners with declining prospects or little dependency on primary production. More importantly, the research reveals a third employment perspective, which did not have any specific content apart from the social security of having employment opportunities in the locality. Also at the enterprise level, farmers anticipate both restructuring and modernisation practices, even on the very same property. The study proves that it is not only part-time, hobby and retired farmers that are engaged in “restructuring” activities, but also full-time farmers. As regards the role of forests, the majority of landowners do not interpret forests in an economic development context, but as green infrastructure important to the local quality of life. It can be concluded that forests are closely related to restructuring thinking among landowners. Future perspectives differ from one European rural area to another, dependent on local conditions and problems. More importantly, however, this research reveals that modernisation–restructuring thoughts and practices of landowners are manifold and heterogeneous in all types of rural areas across Europe.

Natural environments are the setting for spiritual experiences for people from all over the world. Interpretative phenomenological explorations of such experiences are scarce, even though the method suits the topic. We conducted field interviews with 18 Dutch visitors of a Dutch spiritual festival on how they (1) describe spiritual experiences in natural environments and (2) see the role of different natural attributes in these experiences. Principle descriptive concepts for spiritual experiences were a deeper self and spiritual energy. Aspects of nature facilitating such experiences were wilder sites, open spaces, sacred sites, sites remembered from childhood, old trees, animals, water, and fire, each adding a quality to the experience that resembled its innate properties. Participants agreed on the positive impact of these experiences on their well-being, mentioning different degrees of long-term benefit. Key Words: Connection to nature—Ecotherapy—Interpretative phenomenology—Spiritual experience—Well-being.

The concept of small-scale forest ownership means different things to different people in different countries. Traditionally, within Europe, many small-scale forest owners were economically dependent on their forests, either for home or commercial use, usually linked with farming activities. However, many small-scale forest owners are no longer economically dependent on their forests and these owners appear to increasingly focus their management on amenity functions rather than on production functions. These changes in forest ownership are related to more general trends in rural dynamics. As a result of these dynamics, increasingly rural development is not focused on agricultural modernisation, but on rural restructuring. A description of how forest owners themselves perceive their forests has been made on the basis of a survey amongst 1401 small-scale forest owners in eight European countries. Data were collected on ownership and management characteristics as well as on the perspectives regarding the future of the rural area in which the forests are located. The median forest size varies between 1.3 ha in Greece to 4.5 ha in Spain. About 30% of the forest owners have an indifferent attitude to their forests. This group includes many absentee owners and retired local owners, who own only forest lands but who are not economically dependent on these forests. Almost 40% of the forest owners are only modestly interested in forest management; often they have an environmental management orientation. This group includes many hobby owners and part-time employed people. Only one-third of the private forest owners are still economically dependent on their forests; they have predominantly a multifunctional management orientation. The survey findings suggest that policies to stimulate forestry development should be diversified in respect to these different types of small-scale forest owners.

In a rapidly changing rural Europe, forests are promoted as contributing towards rural development in the sense of improved well-being of local communities. A trans-European research project was designed to establish whether varied rural conditions and the perspectives of local communities influence the perceived contribution of forests towards rural development. In eight European countries inhabitants and landowners were interviewed about their perceptions of quality of life in rural areas and the extent to which forests impact upon it. The contribution of forests to quality of life is perceived as either harmful, beneficial or having nothing to offer. Further, preferred future development options were assessed for the area. It turns out that the main differences between areas are related to perceptions of localities as being more or less 'marginal' and perceptions of the role of forests as being more or less 'harmful for rurality'. Results show that it is the perceived harmful aspect of forests that differentiate areas the most. Host people do not regard forestry as a major future development option, principally due to negative association with, for example, employment opportunities, industrial activities and strength of bond and friendship between neighbours. The differences between areas are related to socio-economic and cultural conditions as well as local forest history. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade programme (FLEGT) of the European Union aims at stimulating both legal timber production and good forest governance. The EU establishes Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) with individual tropical timber exporting countries; these VPAs should be developed through a stakeholder-inclusive governance process and define national standards for timber legality. The national policy level serves as an interface between the EU policy and the local realities of forest exploitation. This article assesses whether new assemblages of timber legality standards were developed at this interface. It presents the opinions of people actively engaged in the FLEGT/VPA process in Ghana (n = 38) and Indonesia (n = 40) about which principles regarding timber legality, law enforcement and social safeguards were considered during the VPA negotiations in each country. Almost half of the respondents (44%) were positive about the integrative focus of VPA discussions focusing on both forestry and livelihood issues, 40% considered it had mostly a limited focus or traditional timber sector focus, and 16% indicated a high degree of attention to social responsibility issues. There were differences in the characteristics of respondents and their opinions between Ghana and Indonesia; these reflect differences in organisation of the FLEGT/VPA process. The findings demonstrate how depending on country-specific policy processes principles from an international forest policy are adapted at national level; this may involve new assemblages of the original policy principles.

Biocultural diversity is usually associated with traditional ways in which local or indigenous people interact with the natural environment. This chapter deals with biocultural diversity practices in a highly modernised society, the Netherlands. It introduces the concept of ‘biocultural creatives’: groups of people who, driven by an engagement with society and nature, create new cultural models and practices for interaction with biodiversity. Biocultural creativity aims to reconnect people with nature and is sought for in this chapter within the domains of recreation (use of nature) and financial support and volunteer activities (nature protection). Within recreational practices, creativity is found in the application or rejection of technology and the world of fantasy or contemplation; within financial support, creativity is found in traditional economic instruments applied to the world of nature conservation; and within volunteer work, creativity is found through the modernisation of traditional volunteer activities and new styles of citizen governance in the planning, design and management of conservation areas and landscapes. We conclude that although none of the biocultural creative initiatives have been adopted by large groups of Dutch citizens, they are important to the conservation of biodiversity because they re-create a constant awareness of the cultural roots of nature conservation and remind us that these roots link up to the dynamics in society and because they enrich our cultural connectedness with the natural environment. Therefore, we encourage policy-makers and nature managers to see biocultural diversity as an opportunity for the emergence of new perspectives and ideas, which can be meaningful for nature conservation. We also recommend researchers to do further studies into the dynamic and creative aspects of biodiversity that we touch upon in this chapter.

Forest and nature managers are confronted with an increasing number of tourists visiting National Parks, nature reserves and forest areas. Not all tourists, however, have or prefer the same experiences. In this study, we develop a theory on the nature of tourist experiences by proposing tourism as a way of distancing oneself from everyday reality, conceptualised in terms of out-there-ness. Experience is conceived of as conscious awareness, embedded in relatively stable mental structures, and manifested as a dynamic precondition for immediate responses to tourist practices. These preconditions are theoretically translated into different modes of experience, which are empirically tested. The results show that the theoretical modes of the experience of out-there-ness have considerable empirical support. We present these results in relation to practical applicability for policy-making, planning and design.

In recent years, ecosystem management and recreation have become closely intertwined. Ecosystem management (ESM) influences recreational opportunities and the attractiveness of natural areas, so nowadays local communities are often invited to participate in decision-making about it. And in some cases, local communities object to ecosystem management measures. We will argue that analysing these phenomena as practices can reveal how they mutually influence each other. We will show that recreational practices (which we propose to call experiential practices) are based on the attribution of positive meanings to nature. We also show that if such practices are threatened by new or changing ecosystem management measures, social protest may emerge. We also argue that both recreational behaviour and the appreciation of nature are highly routinised. However, the implementation of contested ESM measures may disrupt such routines and trigger local communities to protest against these measures and, under certain conditions, the protest can even influence management policy. We end the chapter with a short reflection on the role of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in a practice based approach.

Ecological restoration efforts often encounter public resistance. Recreational visitors resist imposition of restoration efforts they fear may result in a visually unattractive area. Public support is, however, essential for restoration efforts on public lands. This study seeks insight into hiker perceptions of perceived attractiveness of nature before and after efforts to restore exotic conifer plantations to native communities containing bog and wet forest communities. Visitors (N = 247) to a Dutch National Park sorted 32 photographs depicting landscapes before and after restoration efforts. Findings show that the most attractive landscape types (bog and wet forest communities containing visible water) are results of restoration efforts and the least attractive landscape types (young deciduous and coniferous forest) are representative of traditional nature before restoration. However, the “middle category” consists of landscape types existing both before and after restoration efforts. Visitors value old coniferous and old deciduous forests as much as products of restoration that lack water. These perceptions are unrelated to either visitor characteristics or the provision of information to visitors explaining restoration goals. The continued existence of resistance to restoration strategies despite their effect on perceived landscape attractiveness implies that the experience of nature has more than only visual dimensions. We expect that more acceptable results of restoration efforts will emerge from the active engagement of the public before restoration practices take place in processes that specifically address feelings of attachment and resistance to change

Frame analysis has been widely employed to understand environmental conflicts. Such studies emphasize the internal dynamics of conflict and focus on how actors discursively struggle with each other in order to gain hegemony over the dominant discourse on the issue. In this paper, we argue that the explanatory power of framing theory could be enhanced by relating issue specific frames to the broader cultural context in which framing efforts are situated. In order to investigate the link between the success of framing strategies and the cultural background of such strategies, we suggest rethinking the concept of cultural resonance. We propose social representations theory as a novel way of understanding this cultural resonance of spatial and environmental frames. Based on a dispute over the management of a national park in the Netherlands, we empirically illustrate how contending stakeholders refer to different social representations of nature in the framing of local conflicts. A local protest group proves to be much more in touch with the views of the local community and is thus more successful in its framing of the dispute than the nature conservation agency involved. While the protest group uses a wide range of locally embedded representations of nature to enhance the currency of its framing efforts, the nature conservation agency responsible for the management of the forest refers to a much more limited range of representations. By making references only to the wilderness representation of nature, the cultural resonance of the agency’s framing efforts remains limited to those residents who adhere to this specific representation of nature. Consequently, this framing is not very successful among groups that adhere to other representations of nature, such as aesthetic or inclusive representations. Our analysis shows that combining framing theory with social representations theory enables one to disentangle the framing of environmental disputes from the more constant cultural values and opinions on which this framing is based.

This book provides a Europe-wide overview on the state of the art of management of recreation and nature tourism in forests. It describes the current situation and conflicts in the different regions of Europe and provides solutions illustrated by good practise examples. It addresses traditions, differences and similarities in European forests as well as new tasks, goals and strategies. The final discussion provides a profound insight into future trends regarding forest recreation and nature based tourism.

The aim of this chapter is to draw a cross-European comparison of the differences and similarities of forest recreation and nature tourism. The main results of Chapters 2 –6 will be analysed and discussed in a broad European context. The analysis will be directed at comparing and interpreting similarities and differences between regions and countries.

Chapter 2 explores recreation and tourism practices in forest areas in the Atlantic region, which refers to the geographical area close to the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic countries described in this section are Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, although there is no specific data for Northern Ireland in the survey) (Fig. 2.1). In this chapter, instead of always focussing on the level of the country, we sometimes refer to a region within a country. This region might be largely political-administrative independent or geomorphologically distinct. Good examples are the regions of Flanders and Wallonia in Belgium and Scotland, England and Wales in the United Kingdom (UK), where there are separate administrations and forestry policies, organisations and support systems. We have chosen to describe them predominantly at the country level.

New directions and the need for reform - these two catch phrases dominate the political discussions around forests, forestry, and forest research in many European countries. In Germany there is concern about the reduction of university positions in forestry, as there is across Europe about the new, more economically orientated direction of forest management. For example, in 2004 the Bavarian electorate defeated a referendum about the restructuring of the forest administration, largely because of concern about changes to nature conservation and recreation management. Obviously, the new trends in forest management imposed by commercial interests stand in stark contrast to the overall expectations society has of effective multi-functional forest management (Deutscher Rat für Landespflege 2004). The administrative desires for reform on the one side and - often contradictory - societal demands on the other are the reason to undertake an investigation of the European model of multi-functional forest management.

Despite the growing cultural diversity in many European countries, nature recreation is still a very “white” activity. Immigrants hardly ever visit non-urban green areas. Prior research has suggested that different perceptions of nature and landscape may be related to this limited use. Based on 618 questionnaires, this article investigates to what extent immigrants from Islamic countries and the native Dutch have different images of nature and landscape preferences. Using the concept of images of nature, cultural differences in meanings attached to nature are explored. Three images of nature are described: the wilderness image, the functional image, and the inclusive image. The wilderness image focuses on ecocentric values and the independence of nature; the functional image focuses on anthropocentric values and intensive management and the inclusive image focuses on ecocentric values and an intimate relationship between humans and nature. Native Dutch people are strong supporters of the wilderness image, while immigrants generally support the functional image. In addition, landscape preferences differ significantly between immigrants and native Dutch people. In general, immigrants show lower preferences for non-urban landscapes. Immigrants show especially low preferences for wild and unmanaged landscapes, like marshes and dunes. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that images of nature and immigrant-status are the most powerful predictors of differences in landscape preferences. Age, gender and education have only a small additional predictive power. The practical and theoretical consequences of these findings are discussed.

A major part of the territory of the European Union consists of rural areas, and consequently considerable attention is given to a European policy on rural development. Forestry is increasingly recognised as one of the activities to be considered in such development. However, there are different opinions about how forestry can best contribute to rural development. This is due to both the various meanings attributed to the concepts of rurality and rural development, and the changing perceptions about the precise role of forestry. In the past, most attention was focused on the primary production function of forests in order to stimulate the economic advancement of rural areas. At present, the role of forestry is gradually changing, with increasing attention being given to its ecological and amenity services. This paper explores the different perceptions on the role of forestry by means of a tentative identification of different discourses. First, the different meanings of rurality and rural development are reviewed. Rural areas may be characterised either by empirical, socio-cultural or spatial parameters, or through social representations. Such a social representation can be considered as ‘symbolic shorthand’ for giving meaning to a specific area. It is expressed through discourse. Five ideal, typical discourses on rural development are identified, i.e. the agri-ruralist, the hedonist, the utilitarian, the community sustainability and the nature conservation discourses. Secondly, the perceived role of forestry within each discourse is identified in four different types of rural areas, varying from remote rural areas to areas adjacent to urban agglomerations.

With the aim to embed ecology more forcefully into decision-making, the concept of Ecosystems Services (ES) has gained significant ground amongpolicy-makers and researchers. The increasing recognition of the importance of urban green areas for the quality of life in growing cities has led proponents of ES approaches to argue for an uptake of the approach in urban environmental decision-making. However, the ES approach has been criticized for standing too much at a distance from local communities and their day-to-day practices and for insufficiently taking into account the potential trade-offs between different qualities or preferences. In this paper we argue that other concepts, doing other work, need to be added to the debate about futures of urban governance and research. Biocultural diversity is suggested as one such alternative concept. By its emphasis On diversity, biocultural diversity can account for the many ways in which people live with green areas in the urban landscape, acknowledges the different knowledges this involves, and can reveal conflicts and ambivalence that may be at stake. This sets up for a reflexive, transdisciplinary research process that questions and contextualizes knowledge and worldviews including those of researchers. A reflexive, transdisciplinary research, then, is a productive catalyst for forms of reflexive urban governance that recognise and respond to this diversity and provide platforms for contestation. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

De waarde van de natuur bestaat voor ecologen vooral uit het behoud van kwetsbare ecosystemen, en zij gebruiken daarbij termen als ‘habitats’ of ‘rode-lijstsoorten’. Deze moeten beschermd of uitgebreid worden en moeten zich autonoom kunnen ontwikkelen. Uit de studie van Buijs blijkt o.a. dat actiegroepen effectiever zijn in het beïnvloeden van de beeldvorming rondom conflicten dan natuurbeheerders

Er is aangetoond dat natuurgebieden bijdragen aan het fysieke en psychische welzijn van mensen. Echter, een te hoge recreatiedruk kan kwetsbare ecosystemen beschadigen en bovendien de beleving van bezoekers nadelig beïnvloeden. Zo is het groeiende aantal bezoekers aan bijvoorbeeld de Nederlandse nationale parken voor beheerders van deze gebieden een belangrijk aandachtspunt. Om natuurgebieden effectief te beheren, kunnen zoneringsplannen een nuttig hulpmiddel zijn. Zoneren is het aanbrengen van een ruimtelijke geleding waardoor gebiedsdelen ontstaan die elk bestemd worden voor verschillende activiteiten, ervaringen of bezoekintensiteiten. De ontwikkeling van zoneringsplannen is echter moeilijk als het inzicht ontbreekt in de precieze vraag naar verschillende recreatievormen, belevingen en huidige gebruiksniveaus. Met het voorgaande als uitgangspunt heeft de huidige studie tot doel om de relatie tussen de omgeving, recreatieve belevingen en het gedrag in een natuurgebied te begrijpen