Abstract
Forest and woodland owners and managers are generally perceived to be acting slowly in addressing environmental change by adapting their forestry practice. Diversification of tree species composition and stand structure is widely promoted as one adaptive approach to increasing the resilience of forests to climate change and other threats. Land manager behaviour is known to be affected by structural and psychological barriers to action. This study used data from a national survey and qualitative interviews among different types of forest owners and managers in the UK, including large- and small-scale woodland managers, to explore their intention to make changes to their forest management and the uptake of species diversification as an adaptation practice. The revised New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) was applied as a measure of worldview, which helped to explain some aspects of their decisions to take up diversification as an action to increase resilience. There were significant interactions between NEP and discredence—i.e. distrust in science or policy recommendations—and woodland size and the uptake of diversification. Many small-scale woodland managers hold strong ecological worldviews which can act against active adaptation because of a belief in the power of nature to adapt, or a mistrust of applying recommendations which might represent “doing the wrong thing”. Research and policy processes that involve owners and managers are more likely to incorporate these climate change rationalities and adaptation logics. The framing, salience and robustness of climate change adaptation information emerges as important for all forest owners and managers and requires additional attention by scientists and policy makers.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
References
Adger WN et al (2009) Are there social limits to adaptation to climate change? Clim Change 93:335–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9520-z
Ambrose-Oji B, Atkinson G, Petr M (2019) Woodland managers’ understanding of resilience and their future information needs FCRN036. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/documents/7124/FCRN036.pdf. Accessed 4 Jan 2019
Andersson E, Keskitalo ECH (2018) Adaptation to climate change? Why business-as-usual remains the logical choice in Swedish forestry. Glob Environ Change 48:76–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.11.004
Andersson E, Keskitalo ECH, Lawrence A (2017) Adaptation to climate change in forestry: a perspective on forest ownership and adaptation responses. Forests 8:493. https://doi.org/10.3390/f8120493
Andersson E, Keskitalo ECH, Bergstén S (2018) In the eye of the storm: adaptation logics of forest owners in management and planning in Swedish areas. Scand J For Res 33:800–808. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2018.1494305
Andre K, Baird J, Gerger Swartling A, Vulturius G, Plummer R (2017) Analysis of Swedish Forest Owners’ information and knowledge-sharing networks for decision-making: insights for climate change communication and adaptation. Environ Manag 59:885–897
Arbuckle JG Jr, Morton LW, Hobbs J (2015) Understanding farmer perspectives on climate change adaptation and mitigation: the roles of trust in sources of climate information, climate change beliefs, and perceived risk. Environ Behav 47:205–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916513503832
Blades JJ, Klos PZ, Kemp KB, Hall TE, Force JE, Morgan P, Tinkham WT (2016) Forest managers’ response to climate change science: evaluating the constructs of boundary objects and organizations. For Ecol Manag 360:376–387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.07.020
Blanco V, Brown C, Rounsevell M (2015) Characterising forest owners through their objectives, attributes and management strategies. Eur J For Res 134:1027–1041. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-015-0907-x
Bleda M, Shackley S (2008) The dynamics of belief in climate change and its risks in business organisations. Ecol Econ 66:517–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.10.021
Blennow K (2012) Adaptation of forest management to climate change among private individual forest owners in Sweden. For Policy Econ 24:41–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.04.005
Blennow K, Persson J, Tomé M, Hanewinkel M (2012) Climate change: believing and seeing implies adapting. PLoS ONE 7:e50181. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050182
Boag AE, Hartter J, Hamilton LC, Christoffersen ND, Stevens FR, Palace MW, Ducey MJ (2018) Climate change beliefs and forest management in eastern Oregon: implications for individual adaptive capacity. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-10355-230401
Bradley EH, Curry LA, Devers KJ (2007) Qualitative data analysis for health services research: developing taxonomy, themes, and theory. Health Serv Res 42:1758–1772. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00684.x
Braun V, Clarke V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol 3:77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Buetow S (2010) Thematic analysis and its reconceptualization as ‘saliency analysis’. J Health Serv Res Policy 15:123–125. https://doi.org/10.1258/jhsrp.2009.009081
Choi AS, Fielding KS (2013) Environmental attitudes as WTP predictors: a case study involving endangered species. Ecol Econ 89:24–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.01.027
Climate Change Accord (2015) Climate Change Accord: a call for resilient forests, woods and trees. Sylva Foundation, Oxford. https://sylva.org.uk/forestryhorizons/environmental-change. Accessed 1 Jan 2019
Commission Forestry (2018) Forestry facts and figures. Forestry Commission, Bristol
de Koning J et al (2014) Managing climate change in conservation practice: an exploration of the science–management interface in beech forest management. Biodivers Conserv 23:3657–3671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0781-8
Deuffic P, Sotirov M, Arts B (2018) “Your policy, my rationale”. How individual and structural drivers influence European forest owners’ decisions. Land Use Policy 79:1024–1038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.09.021
Dunlap RE, Van Liere KD (1984) Commitment to the dominant social paradigm and concern for environmental quality. Soc Sci Q 65:1013–1028
Dunlap RE, Van Liere KD, Mertig AG, Emmet Jones R (2000) Measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP scale. J Soc Issues 56:425–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00176
Dyderski M, Paź S, Frelich L, Jagodziński A (2018) How much does climate change threaten European forest tree species distributions? Glob Change Biol 24:1150–1163. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13925
Ensor J, Harvey B (2015) Social learning and climate change adaptation: evidence for international development practice. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Change 6:509–522. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.348
Eriksson L (2017) Effects of policy measures and moderating factors on climate change adaptation among private forest owners in Sweden. Soc Nat Resour 31:409–423. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1382629
Eves C et al (2015a) Analysis of the potential effects of various influences and interventions on woodland management and creation decisions, using a segmentation model to categorise sub-groups-volume 3. Woodland management segmentation and assessment of interventions. Defra, London
Eves C et al (2015b) Analysis of the potential effects of various influences and interventions on woodland management and creation decisions, using a segmentation model to categorise sub-groups-volume 4. Woodland creation segmentation and assessment of interventions. Defra, London
Feliciano D et al (2017) Understanding private forest owners’ conceptualisation of forest management: evidence from a survey in seven European countries. J Rural Stud 54:162–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.06.016
Folke C, Biggs R, Norström AV, Reyers B, Rockström J (2016) Social–ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08748-210341
Forest Europe (2015) State of Europe’s forests 2015 report ministerial conference on the protection of forests in Europe, FOREST EUROPE Liaison Unit, Madrid. https://foresteurope.org/state-europes-forests-2015-report/. Accessed 1 Jan 2019
Forestry Commission (2003) National inventory of woodland and trees—Great Britain. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/national-inventory-of-woodland-and-trees/. Accessed 9 Mar 2020
Forestry Commission (2012) Climate change risk assessment. Forestry Commission England, Bristol. https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/CCRAFCE.pdf/$file/CCRAFCE.pdf. Accessed 1 Jan 2019
Forestry Commission (2016) Forestry facts and figures. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/. Accessed 9 Mar 2020
Forestry Commission (2017) The UK forestry standard. Forestry Commission, Edinburgh. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-forestry-standard. Accessed 1 Jan 2019
Forster J (2016) Additional analysis of the British woodland survey 2015 data. In: Internal project report. Forest Research, Farnham
Gifford R (2011) Dragons of inaction: psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. Am Psychol 66:290–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023566
Goh E, Ritchie B, Wang J (2017) Non-compliance in national parks: an extension of the theory of planned behaviour model with pro-environmental values. Tour Manag 59:123–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.07.004
Gorddard R, Colloff MJ, Wise RM, Ware D, Dunlop M (2016) Values, rules and knowledge: adaptation as change in the decision context. Environ Sci Policy 57:60–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.12.004
Grothmann T, Patt A (2005) Adaptive capacity and human cognition: the process of individual adaptation to climate change. Glob Environ Change 15:199–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.01.002
Håbesland DE, Kilgore MA, Becker DR, Snyder SA, Solberg B, Sjølie HK, Lindstad BH (2016) Norwegian family forest owners’ willingness to participate in carbon offset programs. For Policy Econ 70:30–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.05.017
Halkos G, Matsiori S (2017) Environmental attitude, motivations and values for marine biodiversity protection. J Behav Exp Econ 69:61–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2017.05.009
Heath Y, Gifford R (2006) Free-market ideology and environmental degradation. The case of belief in climate change. Environ Behav 38:48–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916505277998
Hemery G et al (2015) Awareness, action and aspiration among Britain’s forestry community relating to environmental change: report of the British Woodlands Survey 2015. Sylva Foundation, Oxford
Hemery G, Petrokofsky G, Ambrose-Oji B, Edwards D, O’Brien L, Tansley C, Townsend M (2018) Shaping the future of forestry: report of the British Woodlands Survey 2017. Sylva Foundation, Oxford. https://www.sylva.org.uk/bws2017. Accessed 1 Jan 2019
Huff ES, Leahy JE, Kittredge DB, Noblet CL, Weiskittel AR (2017) Psychological distance of timber harvesting for private woodland owners. For Policy Econ 81:48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.04.007
Hujala T, Kurttila M, Tikkanen J, Leskinen P, Leskinen LA (2009) Adaptive consultation: a tool for recognizing family forest owners’ amenity values. In: Piatek K, Spong B, Harrison S, McGill D (eds) Seeing the forest beyond the trees: new possibilities and expectations for products and services from small-scale forestry. Proceedings of the 2009 IUFRO 3.08 small-scale forestry symposium, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA, 7–11 June 2009. West Virginia University, Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, Morgantown, pp 118–127
Karppinen H, Berghäll S (2015) Forest owners’ stand improvement decisions: applying the theory of planned behavior. For Policy Econ 50:275–284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2014.09.009
Keenan RJ (2015) Climate change impacts and adaptation in forest management: a review. Ann For Sci 72:145–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-014-0446-5
Keskitalo ECH, Nocentini S, Bottalico F (2013) Adaptation to climate change in forest management: what role does national context and forest management tradition play? In: Lucas-Borja ME (ed) Forest management of mediterranean forests under the new context of climate change. Nova Science Publishers, New York, pp 149–161
Keskitalo ECH, Legay M, Marchetti M, Nocentini S, Spathelf P (2015) The role of forestry in national climate change adaptation policy: cases from Sweden, Germany, France and Italy. Int For Rev 17:30–42. https://doi.org/10.1505/146554815814725068
Keskitalo E et al (2016) Adaptation to climate change in Swedish forestry. Forests 7:28. https://doi.org/10.3390/f7020028
Kettle NP, Dow K (2014) The role of perceived risk, uncertainty, and trust on coastal climate change adaptation planning. Environ Behav 48:579–606. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916514551049
Khanal PN, Grebner DL, Munn IA, Grado SC, Grala RK, Henderson JE (2017a) Evaluating non-industrial private forest landowner willingness to manage for forest carbon sequestration in the southern United States. For Policy Econ 75:112–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.07.004
Khanal PN, Grebner DL, Munn IA, Grado SC, Grala RK, Henderson JE (2017b) Typology of nonindustrial private forest landowners and forestry behavior: implications for forest carbon sequestration in the Southern US. Small-Scale For. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-017-9363-4
Kilgore MA et al (2015) Assessing the relationship between different forms of landowner assistance and family forest owner behaviors and intentions. J For 113:12–19. https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.13-059
Klapwijk MJ et al (2018) Capturing complexity: forests, decision-making and climate change mitigation action. Glob Environ Change 52:238–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.07.012
Laakkonen A, Zimmerer R, Kähkönen T, Hujala T, Takala T, Tikkanen J (2018) Forest owners’ attitudes toward pro-climate and climate-responsive forest management. For Policy Econ 87:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.11.001
Lawrence A, Marzano M (2012) Is the private forest sector adapting to climate change? A study of forest managers in north Wales. Ann For Res 71:291–300
Lidskog R, Löfmarck E (2015) Managing uncertainty: forest professionals’ claim and epistemic authority in the face of societal and climate change. Risk Manag 17:145–164. https://doi.org/10.1057/rm.2015.10
Lidskog R, Sjödin D (2014) Why do forest owners fail to heed warnings? Conflicting risk evaluations made by the Swedish forest agency and forest owners. Scand J For Res 29:275–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2014.910268
Liu J, Ouyang Z, Miao H (2010) Environmental attitudes of stakeholders and their perceptions regarding protected area-community conflicts: a case study in China. J Environ Manag 91:2254–2262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.06.007
Mase AS, Gramig BM, Prokopy LS (2017) Climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, and adaptation behavior among Midwestern U.S. crop farmers. Clim Risk Manag 15:8–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2016.11.004
Morse JM, Barrett M, Mayan M, Olson K, Spiers J (2002) Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. Int J Qual Methods 1:13–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690200100202
Moser SC (2014) Communicating adaptation to climate change: the art and science of public engagement when climate change comes home. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Change 5:337–358. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.276
Moser SC, Ekstrom JA (2010) A framework to diagnose barriers to climate change adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107:22026–22031. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1007887107
Mostegl NM, Pröbstl-Haider U, Jandl R, Haider W (2017) Targeting climate change adaptation strategies to small-scale private forest owners. For Policy Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.001
Nelson HW, Williamson TB, Macaulay C, Mahony C (2016) Assessing the potential for forest management practitioner participation in climate change adaptation. For Ecol Manag 360:388–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.09.038
Nordlund A, Westin K (2011) Forest values and forest management attitudes among private forest owners in Sweden. Forests 2:30–50. https://doi.org/10.3390/f2010030
Oakes LE, Ardoin NM, Lambin EF (2016) “I know, therefore I adapt?”; complexities of individual adaptation to climate-induced forest dieback in Alaska. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08464-210240
O’Brien KL (2009) Do values subjectively define the limits to climate change adaptation? In: Lorenzoni I, O’Brien KL, Adger WN (eds) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 164–180. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511596667.011
Reyer CPO, Ramming A, Brouwers N, Langerwisch F (2015) Forest resilience, tipping points and global change processes. J Ecol 103:5–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12342
Sousa-Silva R, Ponette Q, Verheyen K, Van Herzele A, Muys B (2016) Adaptation of forest management to climate change as perceived by forest owners and managers in Belgium. For Ecosyst 3:22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-016-0082-7
Sousa-Silva R et al (2018) Adapting forest management to climate change in Europe: linking perceptions to adaptive responses. For Policy Econ 90:22–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.01.004
Sundin A, Andersson K, Watt R (2018) Rethinking communication: integrating storytelling for increased stakeholder engagement in environmental evidence synthesis. Environ Evid 7:6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0116-4
Sutherland L-A, Barnes A, McCrum G, Blackstock K, Toma L (2011) Towards a cross-sectoral analysis of land use decision-making in Scotland. Lands Urban Plan 100:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.10.005
Sweetman J, Whitmarsh LE (2016) Climate justice: high-status ingroup social models increase pro-environmental action through making actions seem more moral. Top Cognit Sci 8:196–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12178
Taye FA, Vedel SE, Jacobsen JB (2018) Accounting for environmental attitude to explain variations in willingness to pay for forest ecosystem services using the new environmental paradigm. J Environ Econ Policy 7:420–440. https://doi.org/10.1080/21606544.2018.1467346
Thompson DW, Hansen EN (2013) Carbon storage on non-industrial private forestland: an application of the theory of planned behavior. Small-Scale For 12:631–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-013-9235-5
Turner R, Paavola J, Cooper P, Farber S, Jessamy V, Georgiou S (2003) Valuing nature: lessons learned and future research directions. Ecol Econ 46:493–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(03)00189-7
Urquhart J, Courtney P (2011) Seeing the owner behind the trees: a typology of small-scale private woodland owners in England. For Policy Econ 13:535–544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.05.010
Urquhart J, Courtney P, Slee B (2012) Private woodland owners’ perspectives on multifunctionality in English woodlands. J Rural Stud 28:95–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2011.08.006
van Gameren V, Zaccai E (2015) Private forest owners facing climate change in Wallonia: adaptive capacity and practices. Environ Sci Policy 52:51–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.05.004
Wellstead AM, Howlett M, Rayner J (2013) The neglect of governance in forest sector vulnerability assessments: structural-functionalism and “black box” problems in climate change adaptation planning. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05685-180323
Whitmarsh L (2009) Behavioural responses to climate change: asymmetry of intentions and impacts. J Environ Psychol 29:13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.05.003
Whitmarsh L, O’Neill S (2010) Green identity, green living? The role of pro-environmental self-identity in determining consistency across diverse pro-environmental behaviours. J Environ Psychol 30:305–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.01.003
Whitney CK, Ban NC (2019) Barriers and opportunities for social-ecological adaptation to climate change in coastal British Columbia. Ocean Coast Manag 179:104808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.05.010
Wise RM, Fazey I, Stafford Smith M, Park SE, Eakin HC, Archer Van Garderen ERM, Campbell B (2014) Reconceptualising adaptation to climate change as part of pathways of change and response. Glob Environ Change 28:325–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.12.002
Ziegler A (2017) Political orientation, environmental values, and climate change beliefs and attitudes: an empirical cross country analysis. Energy Econ 63:144–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2017.01.022
Acknowledgements
This study has been prepared as an output for Programme 3 in the UK Forestry Commission’s Science and Innovation Strategy 2015–2019. The research described was co-ordinated by Dr Bianca Ambrose-Oji, but involved data collected as part of the British Woodlands Survey (BWS) 2015 and 2017. BWS 2015 was a collaborative project between Sylva Foundation, University of Oxford, Forestry Commission England and The Woodland Trust. BWS 2017 was a collaborative project between Sylva Foundation, University of Oxford, Forest Research and The Woodland Trust, led by Sylva Foundation with support from the Scottish Forestry Trust, Lord Farringdon Charitable Trust and Forestry Commission Scotland. Dr. Suzanne Raum and Dr. Mieria Pecurul-Botines undertook some of the data collection and interviews with land managers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
Ethical approval for this study was granted by an internal review panel (Research Quality Management System, social and economic research ethics group), and all procedures followed were in accordance with the UK Government Social Research Profession ethical code of conduct.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study, whether in the survey or the semi-structured interviews. This consent included the use of anonymised qualitative data in the form of quotes. All data was managed in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ambrose-Oji, B., Atkinson, M., Petrokofsky, G. et al. Do Environmental Worldviews and Distrust Influence Action for Adaptation to Environmental Change Among Small-Scale Woodland Managers?. Small-scale Forestry 19, 159–185 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-020-09440-x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-020-09440-x
Keywords
- New Ecological Paradigm
- Dominant Social Paradigm
- Diversification
- Forest owners
- Behaviour
- Adaptation actions