Forest Recreational Services in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic Stress

Dastan Bamwesigye, Jitka Fialová, Petr Kupec, Jan Łukaszkiewicz and Beata Fortuna-Antoszkiewicz
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Dastan Bamwesigye: Department of Forest and Wood Products Economics and Policy, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 3, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Jitka Fialová: Department of Landscape Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Petr Kupec: Department of Landscape Management, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Jan Łukaszkiewicz: Department of Landscape Architecture, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, ul. Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Beata Fortuna-Antoszkiewicz: Department of Landscape Architecture, Institute of Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, ul. Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Forest ecosystems provide numerous services and benefits to both humans and biodiversity. Similarly, urban forests services play a vital role by providing urban dwellers with recreational and leisure space, mental health relief, and meditation. In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, many people living in the urban areas could benefit from the forest and park recreational services to relieve psychological stress due to lockdown rules. The study examined existing literature simultaneously; however, very few studies have presented the relationships between forest services’ role on COVID-19 stress relief. Furthermore, we examined forest visitors’ frequency at the Training Forest Enterprise (TFE) Masaryk Forest Křtiny in the outskirts of Brno City in the Czech Republic. The study collected data using a TRAFx infrared trail counter before the pandemic (2015–2018) and during the COVID-19 period (2021). As in other studies of the subject, we observed an increasing trend in forest visits during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, compared to the same months before the pandemic in 2016 and 2017. We recommend further research to focus on scientific analysis of the relationship between forest ecosystem services and COVID-19 stress and mental health. Moreover, given the spike in visitors during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021 in March and April, our data provide evidence regarding the role of nature for relieving stress and supporting mental and physical health. Policy, decision-makers and medical advisors could use such data and study to guide future lockdowns and pandemic situations regarding nature and forest recreational use and importance.

Keywords: urban forest services; recreation; social health; stress resilience; COVID-19 pandemics; vitamin D (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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