During the lockdown, people-induced stress among forest visitors was minimal, and confined to forests near towns and cities.
The lockdown that began in mid-March to contain the coronavirus epidemic had a marked effect on the forest visiting habits of the Swiss population, according to a unique comparison of two surveys conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) before and during the crisis.
At the height of the Swiss lockdown in early April, many people were visiting forests more regularly than before the restrictions on their movement were introduced. However, far more were visiting much less or not at all. That is what emerges from a remarkable comparison of two surveys by WSL researchers carried out before and during the lockdown.
As part of the Socio-Cultural Forest Monitoring (WaMos) project, a detailed nationwide survey of the Swiss population's relationship with the forest is carried out every 10 years or so on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The third WaMoS survey is currently under way. WSL developed the concept and methodology for this national survey of 8,000 people, which was conducted online by the LINK Institute, and is now evaluating the results. This survey had nothing to do with the coronavirus and ended on 9 March, prior to the lockdown.
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