Talk Abstract

By 2030 we expect 30% of land and 30% of water in Europe to be protected under a mosaic of designations, such as National Parks and nature reserves. Protected Areas (PAs) are very complex socio-ecological systems where strict biodiversity targets are set alongside socio-economic priorities.

However, not all PAs are supported by the public, with conflicts often emerging between stakeholders, for example around increased tourism and traffic. Understanding and planning for new protected areas in a way that considers their social impact on resident populations should result in more successful, harmonious PAs.

During this seminar, we present evidence from the European Research Council project FIDELIOLink opens in a new window, exploring the level of support for 10 European PAs using data from surveys involving 3000 local residents. We will discuss the current level of support for these PAs and how our understanding of perceived social impacts can assist in predicting public acceptance of new protected areas. We will also discuss how levels of support and social impacts differ when taking into consideration temporal and spatial dimensions. These findings are useful both for researchers and practitioners as they can significantly assist in developing predictive behavioural models for PAs which can be incorporated in PA planning processes.

Speaker Bios