Climate change attitudes and adaptation of hungarian forest managers

Jankó Ferenc; Bertalan Laura; Pappné Vancsó Judit; Ormos Balázs; Németh Nikoletta; Hoschek Mónika

Bulletin of Forestry Science / Volume 8 / Issue 1 / Pages 247-263
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Ferenc Jankó, Laura Bertalan, Judit Vancsó Pappné, Balázs Ormos, Nikoletta Németh & Mónika Hoschek

Correspondence

Correspondence: Jankó Ferenc

Postal address: H-9400 Sopron, Erzsébet u. 9.

e-mail: janko.ferenc[at]uni-sopron.hu

Abstract

This study utilizes a national questionnaire sample and interviews to examine attitudes to climate change as well as perceptions and adaptation activities among Hungarian forestry managers. The results show the respondents addressing climatic changes are concerned mostly by the decrease in the number of snow-covered days, but differences of opinion can be attributed to geographical location and the forest areas managed. Hungarian forest management is still in the preparation phase with only 16% of respondents reporting the implementation of climate change adaptation measures; however, many foresters claim this is often hindered by legislative constraints. Those who have implemented adaptation measures show an increased concern toward climate change on average; they have been aware of climate change for a longer time and regard it as a serious problem affecting their management activities. The study has evidence that state forest managers do not adapt better than private foresters do, high level of concern and nature conservation factors do not hinder adaptation. However, during the interviews respondents reported that nature conservation factors do, in fact, hinder adaptation processes.

Keywords: climate change, forestries, perception, adaptation, Hungary

References33

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Akerlof K., Maibach E.W., Fitzgerald D., Cedeno A.Y. & Neuman A. 2013: Do people ‘"personally experience’" global warming, and if so how, and does it matter? Global Environmental Change 23: 81–91. DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.07.006

Andersson E., Keskitalo E.C.H. & Lawrence A. 2017: Adaptation to Climate Change in Forestry: A Perspective on Forest Ownership and Adaptation Responses. Forests 8: 493. DOI: 10.3390/f8120493

Blades J.J., Klos P.Z., Kemp K.B., Hall T.E., Force J.E., Morgan P. et al. 2016: Forest managers’ response to climate change science: Evaluating the constructs of boundary objects and organizations. Forest Ecology and Management 360: 376–387. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.07.020

Blennow K. 2012: Adaptation of forest management to climate change among private individual forest owners in Sweden. Forest Policy and Economics 24: 41–47. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2011.04.005

Blennow K., Persson J., Tomé M. & Hanewinkel M. 2012: Climate Change: Believing and Seeing Implies Adapting. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50182. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050182

Blennow K., Persson J., Persson E. & Hanewinkel M. 2016: Forest Owners' Response to Climate Change: University Education Trumps Value Profile. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0155137. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155137

Brace C. & Geoghegan H. 2010: Human geographies of climate change: Landscape, temporality, and lay knowledges. Progress in Human Geography 35(3): 284–302. DOI: 10.1177/0309132510376259

Broomell S.B., Budescu D.V. & Por H-H. 2015: Personal experience with climate change predicts intentions to act. Global Environmental Change 32: 67–73. DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.03.001

Detten R. von & Faber F. 2013: Organizational decision-making by German state-owned forest companies concerning climate change adaptation measures. Forest Policy and Economics 35: 57–65. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2013.06.009

Egan P.J. & Mullin M. 2012: Turning Personal Experience into Political Attitudes: The Effect of Local Weather on Americans’ Perceptions about Global Warming. Journal of Politics 74(3): 796–809. DOI: 10.1017/s0022381612000448

Furness R. & Nelson H. 2012: Community forest organizations and adaptation to climate change in British Columbia. The Forestry Chronicle 88: 519–524. DOI: 10.5558/tfc2012-099

Gameren V. van & Zaccai E. 2015: Private forest owners facing climate change in Wallonia: Adaptive capacity and practices. Environmental Science and Policy 52: 51–60. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2015.05.004

Hamilton L.C. & Stampone M.D. 2013: Blowin’ in the Wind: Short-Term Weather and Belief in Anthropogenic Climate Change. Weather, Climate and Society 5: 112–119. DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-12-00048.1

Johnston M. & Hesseln H. 2012: Climate change adaptive capacity of the Canadian forest sector. Forest Policy and Economics 24: 29–34. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2012.06.001

Lawrence A. & Marzano M. 2014: Is the private forest sector adapting to climate change? A study of forest managers in north Wales. Annals of Forest Science 71(2): 291–300. DOI: 10.1007/s13595-013-0326-4

Lakkonen A., Zimmerer R., Kähkönen T., Hujala T., Takala T. & Tikkanen J. 2018: Forest owners' attitudes toward pro-climate and climate-responsive forest management. Forest Policy and Economics 87: 1–10. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.11.001

Lenart M. & Jones C. 2014: Perceptions on climate change correlate with willingness to undertake some forestry adaptation and mitigation practices. Journal of Forestry 112(6): 553–563. DOI: 10.5849/jof.13-051

Lorenzoni I. & Pidgeon N. F. 2006: Public views on climate change: European and USA perspectives. Climatic Change 77: 73–95. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-006-9072-z

Mátyás Cs. 2006a: Az előrejelzett klímaváltozás és a magyar erdőtakaró sorsa. In: Fekete G. & Varga Z. (eds): Magyarország tájainak növényzete és állatvilága. MTA, Budapest 420–424.

Mátyás Cs. 2006b: Gének, ökoszisztémák, gazdálkodás: erdészet, paradigmaváltás után: MTA Székfoglaló előadás. Acta Silvatica et Lignaria Hungarica 2: 5–24. full text

Mátyás Cs. 2016: Az erdészeti szaporítóanyag megválasztása a klímaváltozás fényében. Erdészeti Lapok 151(3): 78–82. full text

Mátyás Cs. & Sun G. 2014: Forests in a water limited world under climate change. Environmental Research Letters 9(8): 085001. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/9/8/085001

Milad M., Schaich H. & Konold W. 2012: How is adaptation to climate change reflected in current practice of forest management and conservation? A case study from Germany. Biodiversity and Conservation 22: 1181–1202. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-012-0337-8

Mostegl N.M., Pröbstl-Haider U., Jandl R. & Haider W. 2017: Targeting climate change adaptation strategies to small-scale private forest owners. Forest Policy and Economics (In Press). DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2017.10.001

Myers T.A., Maibach E.W., Roser-Renouf C., Akerlof K. & Leiserowitz A.A. 2013: The relationship between personal experience and belief in the reality of global warming. Nature Climate Change 3: 343–347. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1754

Nelson H., Williamson T.B., Macaulay C. & Mahony C. 2016: Assessing the potential for forest management practitioner participation in climate change adaptation. Forest Ecology and Management 360: 388–399. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.09.038

NES 2016: Nemzeti Erdőstratégia 2016-2030. Földművelésügyi Minisztérium Erdészeti és Vadgazdálkodási Főosztály, Budapest, 2016. szeptember.

Petr M., Boerboom L., Ray D. & van den Veen A. 2014: An uncertainty assessment framework for forest planning adaptation to climate change. Forest Policy and Economics 41: 1–11. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2013.12.002

Raftoyannis Y., Nocentini S., Marchi E., Sainz R.C., Guemes C.G., Pilas I. et al. 2014: Perceptions of forest experts on climate change and fire management in European Mediterranean forests. iForest – Biogeosciences and Forestry 7: 33–41. DOI: 10.3832/ifor0817-006

Somogyi Z. 2003: Erdők nélkül? L’Harmattan, Budapest.

Sousa-Silva R., Ponette Q., Verheyen K., Van Herzele A. & Muys B. 2016: Adaptation of forest management to climate change as perceived by forest owners and managers in Belgium. Forest Ecosystems 3(1): 22. DOI: 10.1186/s40663-016-0082-7

Weber E.U. 2010: What shapes perceptions of climate change? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 1: 332–342. DOI: 10.1002/wcc.41

Yousefpour R. & Hanewinkler M. 2015: Forestry professionals’ perceptions of climate change, impacts and adaptation strategies for forests in south-west Germany. Climatic Change 130(2): 273–286. DOI: 10.1007/s10584-015-1330-5

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Cite this article as:

Jankó, F., Bertalan, L., Pappné, V. J., Ormos, B., Németh, N. & Hoschek, M. (2018): Climate change attitudes and adaptation of hungarian forest managers. Bulletin of Forestry Science, 8(1): 247-263. (in Hungarian) DOI: 10.17164/EK.2018.015

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Volume 8, Issue 1
Pages: 247-263

DOI: 10.17164/EK.2018.015

First published:
1 June 2018