Output details

Application of an ecosystem function framework to perceptions of community woodlands

The divergent preferences of owners, governments, local residents’ conservation groups are a major challenge for designers of local woodland policy. The paper demonstrates the applicability of the eco-system goods and services framework to community woodlands. It provides a systematic way of identifying actor preferences and of exploring and addressing differences in these. As such, the paper provides an approach and a foundation of knowledge for the design of public policy and management initiatives for community assets such as woodlands. This research draws on a framework used in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), which highlights the various functions that eco-systems such as local woodlands perform for society. These include the provision of goods (e.g. timber) and services, such as regulatory services for carbon storage. Building on this framework, the research developed a systematic approach to identifying the preferences of various actor groups with respect to local woodland functions and a way of addressing divergent actor interests. For example, production related activity such as thinning undertaken by owners was viewed as largely negative by local communities who value habitat and regulation functions. The paper also revealed various local woodland functions around which actors’ interests were aligned. For example, conservation groups and owners might share an interest in habitat functions. The paper also revealed a number of ‘dis-services’, such as community woodlands functioning as ‘fly tips’. By highlighting the combination of eco-system services and dis-services, the paper adds a new dimension to the way that eco-system functions are described and analysed.