Forest conservation can be a source of tension between competing priorities and interests from forestry, science, administration and nature conservation organisations.
Forest conservation can be a source of tension between competing priorities and interests from forestry, science, administration and nature conservation organisations. The different stakeholders can create the public impression of disagreement with regard to the objectives and measures in forest conservation. Scientists from the University of Göttingen, the HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen and the Northwest German Forest Research Institute have developed a framework of conservation objectives whereby targets for nature conservation can be compared and analysed. The study was published in Nature Conservation.
The research team developed a reference framework to systematically classify conservation objectives. It considered the following: “living” biotic natural resources such as genes, species, ecosystems and landscapes; and “non-living” abiotic natural resources such as soil, water and climate; in addition to social factors such as recreation, tourism and awareness-raising. The suitability of the conceptual framework was applied to 79 biodiversity and forest conservation concepts. The researchers assigned the stakeholders to three reference areas – international, Germany-wide and regional – in order to search for commonalities and differences with regard to the transfer of knowledge and conservation objectives across stakeholders and reference areas.
Read more at University of Göttingen
Image: Life and Death: Natural forest dynamics in the Hainich National Park as part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site "Ancient and Primeval beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe." (Credit: Laura Demant)
