| 1. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Maintaining natural and traditional cultural green infrastructures across Europe: learning from historic and current landscape transformations
- 2021
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Ingår i: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Publishing Company. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 36:2, s. 637-663
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 2. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Meeting places and social capital supporting rural landscape stewardship : A Pan-European horizon scanning
- 2021
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Ingår i: Ecology and Society. - : Resilience Alliance. - 1708-3087. ; 26:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Achieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process in rural landscapes, and sustainability in terms of functional green infrastructures for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, are wicked challenges. Competing claims from various sectors call for evidence-based adaptive collaborative governance. Leveraging such approaches requires maintenance of several forms of social interactions and capitals. Focusing on Pan-European regions with different environmental histories and cultures, we estimate the state and trends of two groups of factors underpinning rural landscape stewardship, namely, (1) traditional rural landscape and novel face-to-face as well as virtual fora for social interaction, and (2) bonding, bridging, and linking forms of social capital. We applied horizon scanning to 16 local landscapes located in 18 countries, representing Pan-European social-ecological and cultural gradients. The resulting narratives, and rapid appraisal knowledge, were used to estimate portfolios of different fora for social interactions and forms of social capital supporting landscape stewardship. The portfolios of fora for social interactions were linked to societal cultures across the European continent: "self-expression and secular-rational values" in the northwest, "Catholic" in the south, and "survival and traditional authority values" in the East. This was explained by the role of traditional secular and religious local meeting places. Virtual internet-based fora were most widespread. Bonding social capitals were the strongest across the case study landscapes, and linking social capitals were the weakest. This applied to all three groups of fora. Pan-European social-ecological contexts can be divided into distinct clusters with respect to the portfolios of different fora supporting landscape stewardship, which draw mostly on bonding and bridging forms of social capital. This emphasizes the need for regionally and culturally adapted approaches to landscape stewardship, which are underpinned by evidence-based knowledge about how to sustain green infrastructures based on both forest naturalness and cultural landscape values. Sharing knowledge from comparative studies can strengthen linking social capital.
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| 3. |
- Angelstam, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Tall herb sites as a guide for planning, maintenance and engineering of riparian continuous forest cover
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ecological Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-8574 .- 1872-6992. ; 103 Part B, s. 470-477
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Continuous cover riparian forests host significant plant and animal species richness, a range of habitats, and natural processes of importance for both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Riparian forest is thus a green infrastructure for biodiversity conservation. However, a long history of landscape alteration now calls for maintenance and restoration by ecological engineering. This study evaluates management guidelines advocating constant vs. variable width of riparian forest protected zones in managed landscapes. In naturally dynamic forests, stands with gap-phase dynamic along streams often provide a network of habitats with a high degree of continuity in tree canopy cover and dead wood for biodiversity conservation and delivery of ecosystem services including water purification. Based on the observation that tall herb sites indicate a potential for temporally continuous forest cover, we tested three null hypotheses. Tall herb sites ( 1) are equally common in the riparian zone and in the surrounding forest landscape; ( 2) have the same width on both sides of a stream; and ( 3) their widths are independent of the width of the adjacent stream. We described the ground vegetation in transects along and perpendicular to streams, and in the surrounding landscape, in six 3rd stream order catchment located in Sweden, Lithuania and the Komi Republic of Russia. The results showed that tall herb sites were 21-27 times more common along streams compared to in the rest of the landscape, the width of tall herb sites varied considerably along streams, and it was independent of the width of the adjacent stream. This study suggests that rather than fixed-width guidelines for riparian set-asides, to support cost-efficient maintenance of riparian forest, local site conditions should be used as guide for planning, maintenance and engineering of riparian ecotones. Because tall herb forest sites were historically cleared for agricultural purposes, the potential natural amount of riparian forest is severely underestimated. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Angelstam, Per, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Two-dimensional gap analysis : a tool for efficient conservation planning and biodiversity policy implementation
- 2003
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 32:8, s. 527-534
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The maintenance of biodiversity by securing representative and well-connected habitat networks in managed landscapes requires a wise combination of protection, management, and restoration of habitats at several scales. We suggest that the integration of natural and social sciences in the form of "Two-dimensional gap analysis" is an efficient tool for the implementation of biodiversity policies. The tool links biologically relevant "horizontal" ecological issues with "vertical" issues related to institutions and other societal issues. Using forest biodiversity as an example, we illustrate how one can combine ecological and institutional aspects of biodiversity conservation, thus facilitating environmentally sustainable regional development. In particular, we use regional gap analysis for identification of focal forest types, habitat modelling for ascertaining the functional connectivity of "green infrastructures", as tools for the horizontal gap analysis. For the vertical dimension we suggest how the social sciences can be used for assessing the success in the implementation of biodiversity policies in real landscapes by identifying institutional obstacles while implementing policies. We argue that this interdisciplinary approach could be applied in a whole range of other environments including other terrestrial biota and aquatic ecosystems where functional habitat connectivity, nonlinear response to habitat loss and a multitude of economic and social interests co-occur in the same landscape.
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| 5. |
- Carlsson, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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Institutional frameworks for sustainability? : a comparative analysis of the forest sectors of Russia and the Baltic States
- 2004
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 33:6, s. 366-370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- After the break-up of the Soviet system, the divergence in forest management among Soviet republics became obvious. While the forest sectors of the Baltic States have been fundamentally changed, Russia has not been able to develop an institutional framework that would fit the prerequisites for social-ecological resilience. It is argued that sustainable development requires institutional frameworks that have the capacity to adapt and learn, and thus to treat policies as experiments that are constantly assessed and readjusted. This, however, requires a participatory approach and in this respect the Baltic States are believed to be on a more promising track. Finally, it is concluded that only to the extent that suitable institutional frameworks will be developed will social-ecological resilience be a significant feature of the natural resources management in the former communist countries.
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| 6. |
- Lazdinis, Marius, et al.
(författare)
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Governing forests of the European Union: institutional framework for interest representation at the European Community level
- 2009
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Ingår i: Environmental Policy and Governance. - : Wiley. - 1756-932X .- 1756-9338. ; 19, s. 44-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We analyse whether the European Community provides for articulating a common set of priorities for society and supports openness and participation in the area of forest policy at the Community level. In doing so, we review the institutional framework and, using the results of the internet-based stakeholder consultation, assess the presence of interested parties at the level of the European Community. In addition, from the same consultation we learn about the opinions of the interest groups concerning possible areas for enhancing coherence in forest governance in the European Union. The results of the study demonstrate that there is a range of possibilities for participation of different interest groups and flow of information between the European Commission and the stakeholders. However, the number of interest groups prepared to actively participate in Community-level forest and forestry-related policy- and decision-making is relatively low. We conclude that the present institutional arrangements should be sufficient for open and participatory priority setting in forest governance at the European Community level. However, based on the ‘stakeholder consultation’ we also conclude that co-ordination and co-operation, and hence coherence, in forest and forestry-related policy- and decision-making at the Community level should be improved. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
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| 7. |
- Lazdinis, Marius, et al.
(författare)
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Towards sustainable forest management in the European Union through polycentric forest governance and an integrated landscape approach
- 2019
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Ingår i: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 34, s. 1737-1749
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ContextAchieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process, and securing sustainability and resilience of human societies as well as the natural environment are wicked problems. Realising sustainable forest management (SFM) policy in local landscapes is one example.ObjectivesUsing the European Union as a case study for the implementation of SFM policy across multiple governance levels in different contexts, we discuss the benefits of adopting an integrated landscape approach with place and space, partnership and sustainability as three pillars.MethodsWe map the institutional frameworks for implementing SFM policy within all EU member states. Next, we analyse whether or not there is EU-level forest governance, and how power is distributed among EU, member state and operational levels.ResultsMechanisms to steer a centralized forest governance approach towards SFM in the EU are marginal. Instead, there is a polycentric forest governance with 90 national and sub-national governments, which create and implement own and EU-wide SFM-related policies. Additionally, both among and within regional governance units there is a large variation in governance arrangements linked to land ownership at the operational level.ConclusionsTo effectively translate EU-wide SFM and SFM-related policies into action in local landscapes, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are different land ownership structures, landscape histories and alternative value chains based on multiple ecosystem services. Therefore regionally adapted landscape approaches engaging multiple stakeholders and actors through evidence-based landscape governance and stewardship towards sustainable forest landscape management are needed. Model Forest, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research platform and Biosphere Reserve are three of many examples.
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