Attitudes towards biodiversity conservation and carbon substitution in forestry: A study of stakeholders in Sweden

Abstract

Global change has fueled debates on forest use and management, including the need to adapt management to mitigate future risks in forestry. Additionally, forests are important for biodiversity conservation and could be used in climate change mitigation. The opinions of stakeholders towards acceptable forest use deserve consideration. This study examined relations between environmental problem awareness, forest beliefs and environmental management attitudes (biodiversity conservation and carbon substitution) among stakeholders in Sweden, and explored the effect of a local biodiversity versus global climate change frame on attitudes. Stakeholders were recruited from ownership and environmental/recreational interest groups (owner and nature group, respectively) (membership sample) and among students (student sample). Whereas the owner group was more positive towards carbon substitution in forestry, the nature group was more positive towards biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. In the membership sample, awareness of biodiversity loss and eco-social forest beliefs influenced attitudes towards biodiversity conservation. In contrast, positive attitudes towards carbon substitution stemmed from lower awareness of biodiversity loss, less emphasis on openness towards new methods in forestry and greater emphasis on production in forestry. While framing did not influence attitudes, the cognitive hierarchy was useful in providing a nuanced understanding of stakeholders, valuable for policy and practice.