The perception of ecosystem services in public sector domains of health, tourism and environment protection in Croatia

Abstract

In the article we analyze the familiarity with the concept of ecosystem services, perceptions of their various dimensions and attitudes to them. The target respondents were employees working in public institutions responsible for public health, tourism and environment and/or nature protection. Drawing on the COST project ToBeWell, a questionnaire was designed in order to find out how the concept was perceived within those institutions in several EU countries, including Croatia. The research carried out on a non-probabilistic sample in Croatia showed satisfactory familiarity with the concept within tourism and environment/nature protection institutions but unsatisfactory familiarity within public health institutions. Although the concept was perceived as relevant across all three institutional domains, the governance of ecosystem services and the cooperation in public health, environment protection and tourism were rated unsatisfactory.