Seeking consensus in German forest conservation: An analysis of contemporary concepts

By

Demant, Laura
Meyer, Peter
Sennhenn-Reulen, Holger
Walentowski, Helge
Bergmeier, Erwin

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

Nature conservation

Volume

35

Pages

1-23

Subjects

Biodiversity , conservation concepts , conservation objectives , Dirichlet regression , Forest conservation , scale mismatch , spatial scales , stakeholders , targets

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers 2012-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.35.35049

 

Abstract

Setting operational conservation objectives is a major challenge for effective biodiversity conservation worldwide. To analyse forest conservation objectives in Germany in a transparent manner and to achieve a consistent and consensual framework, we systematically classified conservation objectives suggested in concepts by different stakeholders. We analysed 79 biodiversity and forest conservation concepts of different stakeholder groups at various scales and applied textual content analysis and Dirichlet regression to reach a high degree of transferability and applicability. Our analysis revealed a broad consensus concerning forest conservation across stakeholders and scales, albeit with slight differences in focus, but we detected a scale-related mismatch. A wide array of conservation objectives covered social, biotic and abiotic natural resources. Conservation of species, ecosystems and structural elements in forests were found to be of primary importance across stakeholders and scale levels. Shortcomings in the conservation concepts were found in addressing genetic diversity, abiotic resources and socio-cultural objectives. Our results show that problems in forest conservation may be rooted in trade-offs between aims, targeting mismatch across scale levels and insufficient implementation of objectives.