No polarization–Expected Values of Climate Change Impacts among European Forest Professionals and Scientists

Johannes Persson, Kristina Blennow, Luísa Gonçalves, Alexander Borys, Ioan Dutcă, Jari Hynynen, Emilia Janeczko, Mariyana Lyubenova, Simon Martel, Jan Merganic, Katarína Merganičová, Mikko Peltoniemi, Michal Petr, Fernando H. Reboredo, Giorgio Vacchiano and Christopher P.O. Reyer
Additional contact information
Johannes Persson: Department of Philosophy, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
Kristina Blennow: Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden
Luísa Gonçalves: Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, ESTG, Nova IMS, INESC Coimbra, Campus 2–Morro do Lena–Alto Vieiro, 2411–901 Leiria, Portugal
Alexander Borys: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association, P.O. Box 60 12 03, D-14412 Potsdam, Germany
Ioan Dutcă: Department of Silviculture, Transilvania University of Brasov, Sirul Beethoven, 1, 500123 Brasov, Romania
Jari Hynynen: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartononkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
Emilia Janeczko: Department of Forest Utilization, Institute of Forest Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 159 02–776 Warsaw, Poland
Mariyana Lyubenova: Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Biology, University of Sofia, Dragan Tzankov 8, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
Simon Martel: National Institute of Agricultural Research, INRA, UMR 1391 ISPA, 33140 Villenave d’Ornon, France
Jan Merganic: Forestry Faculty, Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia
Katarína Merganičová: Forestry Faculty, Technical University in Zvolen, T. G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia
Mikko Peltoniemi: Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Latokartononkaari 9, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
Michal Petr: Forest Research, Forestry Commission, Northern Research Station, Roslin EH25 9SY, UK
Fernando H. Reboredo: Department of Earth Sciences, GeoBioTec, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon, 2829–516 Caparica, Portugal
Giorgio Vacchiano: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, DISAA Università di Milano, 20123 Milan, Italy
Christopher P.O. Reyer: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association, P.O. Box 60 12 03, D-14412 Potsdam, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: The role of values in climate-related decision-making is a prominent theme of climate communication research. The present study examines whether forest professionals are more driven by values than scientists are, and if this results in value polarization. A questionnaire was designed to elicit and assess the values assigned to expected effects of climate change by forest professionals and scientists working on forests and climate change in Europe. The countries involved covered a north-to-south and west-to-east gradient across Europe, representing a wide range of bio-climatic conditions and a mix of economic–social–political structures. We show that European forest professionals and scientists do not exhibit polarized expectations about the values of specific impacts of climate change on forests in their countries. In fact, few differences between forest professionals and scientists were found. However, there are interesting differences in the expected values of forest professionals with regard to climate change impacts across European countries. In Northern European countries, the aggregated values of the expected effects are more neutral than they are in Southern Europe, where they are more negative. Expectations about impacts on timber production, economic returns, and regulatory ecosystem services are mostly negative, while expectations about biodiversity and energy production are mostly positive.

Keywords: climate change impacts; decision-making; risk perception; homogeneity of expected values; value polarization; strength of expected values (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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