Hanna Ekström Pigot has successfully defended her thesis in Environmental Science!

The opponent is Maja Schlüter from Stockholm University. 

More information about the thesis is available in the Lund University Research Portal:

Diverse People, Diverse Forests? The role of social-ecological interactions in biodiversity governance - Lund University

Abstract

Despite decades of claimed ambitions to increase environmental consideration in forest policy, biodiversity loss in boreal forests continues. As the pressure on forest biodiversity intensifies, due to land use competition, shifting societal demands, and climate change, it is crucial to address the shortfall of biodiversity policies in reaching their intended outcomes. Voluntary policy instruments are increasingly suggested as conservation strategies in managed forests, but we lack understanding of the joint influence of social processes, like diverse landowner values, and ecological processes, like diverse forest conditions, on policy outcomes. 

The aim of this thesis is to understand I) how different methodological approaches capture social-ecological interactions, and II) how social-ecological interactions influence the implementation and outcomes of biodiversity policies in managed forests. Four subprojects focus on case studies in Sweden and Finland, and combine methods of walking interviews, agent-based modelling, cluster analysis, and literature reviews. 

The results demonstrate that i) forest agent-based models are promising for combining social and ecological data, but few models explicitly model their interactions, and ii) choice of method influence which forest owner characteristics that are highlighted in forest owner typologies. These insights emphasise the need for methodological reflexivity in research on forest policy, particularly when findings inform policy design. The thesis contributes with two main insights on the role of social-ecological interactions for biodiversity policy implementation: iii) For interactions on a local and individual level, forest owners may hold strong emotional or cultural connections to their forest, yet still make management choices that conflict with conservation objectives, expanding perspectives on the relational values-concept, iv) On a national and landscape level, spatially targeted voluntary policy instruments can enhance the quantity of protected areas, ecological quality, and landscape connectivity, providing support for policy making. 

In summary, the thesis shows how a social-ecological system-lens helps in understanding factors that hinders or enables biodiversity protection, from individual values to national policies. By combining empirical analysis with methodological reflection, the thesis contributes to developing more nuanced, ecologically effective, and context aware approaches to forest biodiversity policy.