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Background There are many ethnobotanical studies on the use of wild plants and mushrooms for food and medicinal treatment in Europe. However, there is a lack of comparative ethnobotanical research on the role of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) as wild food and medicine in local livelihoods in countries with different socio-economic conditions. The aim of this study was to compare the present use of wild food and medicine in three places representing different stages of socio-economic development in Europe. Specifically we explore which plant and fungi species people use for food and medicine in three selected rural regions of Sweden, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. Methods We studied the current use of NWFPs for food and medicine in three rural areas that represent a gradient in economic development (as indicated by the World Bank), i.e. , Småland high plain (south Sweden), Roztochya (western Ukraine), and Kortkeros (Komi Republic in North West Russia). All areas were characterised by (a) predominating rural residency, (b) high forest coverage, and (c) free access to NWFPs. A total of 205 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with local residents in the three study areas. The collected NWFPs data included (1) the species that are used; (2) the amount harvested, (3) uses and practices (4) changes over time, (5) sources of knowledge regarding the use of NWFPs as wild food and medicine and (6) traditional recipes. Results In Sweden 11 species of wild plant and fungi species were used as food, and no plant species were used for medicinal purposes. In Ukraine the present use of NWFPs included 26 wild foods and 60 medicinal species, while in Russia 36 food and 44 medicinal species were reported. Conclusions In the economically less developed rural areas of Ukraine and Russia, the use of NWFPs continues to be an important part of livelihoods, both as a source of income and for domestic use as food and medicine. In Sweden the collection of wild food has become mainly a recreational activity and the use of medicinal plants is no longer prevalent among our respondents. This leads us to suggest that the consumption of wild food and medicine is influenced by the socio-economic situation in a country.

Our work focuses on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of the most stringent, but also contested certification schemes for sustainable forestry. Responding to criticisms concerning inconsistency at the national level, FSC-International recently increased the prescriptiveness of its international standards, including the development of biodiversity-related International Generic Indicators (IGIs). We aim to understand recent efforts in Canada, Sweden, and Russia to revise national-level FSC standards in line with biodiversity-related IGIs. What were the key factors influencing the standard-development process and its outcomes? Were stakeholders satisfied with the negotiations and what was finally achieved? The data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with key participants, a comparative analysis of biodiversity-related indicators in newly approved FSC standards, and analysis of reports prepared by national FSC offices. We applied the Institutional Development and Analysis framework within a complex systems approach to identify multiple interconnected factors that shaped standard-development processes and outcomes in each country. Our findings indicate that despite persistent efforts of FSC-International to harmonize FSC standards across all countries, there are a number of interrelated key factors, which influence outcomes at the national level. Four common clusters of endogenous factors were key to standard-development processes and outcomes in each of these countries: process-related factors, biodiversity-related actions, desired level of control over biodiversity-related outcomes, and adequacy of available knowledge about biodiversity. Forest governance was the only common cluster of key exogenous factors in Sweden and Russia, many of which were identified as constraining the emergence of a consensus-oriented negotiation process. Our findings indicate that efforts to enhance the consistent performance of forest certification for biodiversity conservation require an improved understanding of negotiation outcomes as the emergent products of interactions between multiple exogenous and endogenous factors. This implies a need for a greater focus on process management aspects during future negotiations.

Policies on economic use of natural resources require considerations to social and cultural values. In order to make those concrete in a planning context, this paper aims to interpret social and cultural criteria, identify indicators, match these with verifier variables and visualize them on maps. Indicators were selected from a review of scholarly work and natural resource policies, and then matched with verifier variables available for Sweden's 290 municipalities. Maps of the spatial distribution of four social and four cultural verifier variables were then produced. Consideration of social and cultural values in the studied natural resource use sectors was limited. The spatial distribution of the verifier variables exhibited a general divide between northwest and south Sweden, and regional rural and urban areas. We conclude that it is possible to identify indicators and match them with verifier variables to support inclusion of social and cultural values in planning.

Building the adaptive capacity of interlinked social and ecological systems is assumed to improve implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM) policies. One mechanism is collaborative learning by continuous evaluation, communication, and transdisciplinary knowledge production. The Model Forest (MF) concept, developed in Canada, is intended to encourage all dimensions of sustainable development through collaboration among stakeholders of forest resources in a geographical area. Because the MF approach encompasses both social and ecological systems, it can be seen as a process aimed at improving adaptive capacity to deal with uncertainty and change. We analyzed multi-stakeholder approaches used in four MF initiatives representing social–ecological systems with different governance legacies and economic histories in the northwest of the Russian Federation (Komi MF and Pskov MF) and in Sweden (Vilhelmina MF and the Foundation Säfsen Forests in the Bergslagen region). To describe the motivations behind development of the initiative and the governance systems, we used qualitative open-ended interviews and analyzed reports and official documents. The initial driving forces for establishing new local governance arrangements were different in all four cases. All MFs were characterized by multi-level and multi-sector collaboration. However, the distribution of power among stakeholders ranged from clearly top down in the Russian Federation to largely bottom up in Sweden. All MF initiatives shared three main challenges: (a) to develop governance arrangements that include representative actors and stakeholders, (b) to combine top-down and bottom-up approaches to governance, and (c) to coordinate different sectors’ modes of landscape governance. We conclude that, in principle, the MF concept is a promising approach to multi-stakeholder collaboration. However, to understand the local and regional dimensions of sustainability, and the level of adaptability of such multi-stakeholder collaboration initiatives, empirical studies of outcomes are needed. To assess the adaptive capacity, the states and trends of economic, ecological, social, and cultural dimensions in actual landscapes need to be linked to how the multi-stakeholder collaboration develops and performs over the long term.

The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept aims at encouraging sustainable development (SD) towards sustainability on the ground by promoting three core functions: conservation, development, and logistic support. Sweden and Ukraine exemplify the diverse governance contexts that BRs need to cope with. We assessed how the BR concept and its core functions are captured in national legislations. The results show that the core functions are in different ways reflected in legal documents in both countries. While in Ukraine the BR concept is incorporated into legislation, in Sweden the concept is used as a soft law. In Ukraine managers desired stronger legal enforcement, while in Sweden managers avoided emphasis on legislation when collaborating with local stakeholders. Hence, BR implementation have adapted to different political cultures by development of diverse approaches. We conclude that a stronger legal support might not be needed for BRs, rather SD needs to be recognized as an integrated place-based process at multiple levels.

The services provided by green infrastructures may lead to a decrease in climate-related ecological, social, and health risks, especially in the urban environment. Consequently, the best guarantee to make this environment as safe as possible is to increase the extent of green areas, taking into consideration the functional importance, and climatic–ecological peculiarities of the area. These are also issues for the Republic of Armenia’s (RA) capital Yerevan. There the current conditions of the green areas of Yerevan city do not meet the expected requirements of the climatic–ecological development of urban areas. The green area per capita is 8 m2, which is unevenly distributed within 12 different administrative districts of Yerevan city. The aim of this research was to study the natural climatic and ecological conditions of Yerevan city and the status of the green areas of the city. The eco-biological indicators of the trees and shrubs growing in Yerevan green areas have been assessed, and the more resilient plant species have been singled out. All 12 administrative districts of Yerevan have been mapped and the green area per capita for each administrative district has been calculated. The received data have been combined with health indicators and suggestions have been made to add green areas in Yerevan according to the functional significance and sustainability of shrubby species and to their decorative and phyto-filtration properties. The city has unfavorable climatic conditions. It is located in the northern section of the subtropical climatic zone and has a distinct dry continental climate. Temperatures above +40 °C are typical, while winter is rather cold and sometimes temperatures may drop below −20 °C (in January 2008, it dropped to −27.6 °C). The amount of atmospheric precipitation has reduced by 9%. The city is counted as one of the driest urban areas of the South Caucasus. The other unfavorable ecological conditions are heavy traffic, the city’s open landfill, the concentration of industrial enterprises, large-scale construction works, etc. The atmospheric concentrations of particulate matter (PM), gases and heavy metals have been detected to exceed the permitted limits. In terms of health care, the death cases due to various diseases (acute respiratory, vascular, and cancer) have increased, which requires complex activities to reduce environmental pollution and to improve the microclimate.

Strengthening positive human–nature relationships is seen as a way to more pro‐environmental behaviour and leads to a greater environmental sustainability. Therefore, understanding human–nature relationships has attracted increasing attention among researchers. Nature connectedness is a concept developed to measure such relationships. Since nature connectedness is complex and context dependent phenomenon, more research comparing sociocultural and environmental factors within societies in different countries is needed to understand its determinants. In this study, we explored how sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics and value orientation of respondents and environmental variables affected nature connectedness across different contexts in the European Union. We used 11 sociodemographic, socioeconomic and personal value factors from the computer‐assisted web interview (CAWI) and six environmental variables characterizing the local environments of 1054 respondents as independent variables to explain the nature connectedness of the respondents in Greece, Poland and Sweden. The individual level of nature connectedness (response variable) was expressed by an additive index (NC‐index) based on a 5‐item scale originating from CAWI. The general additive model was applied to link NC‐index to sociodemographic, value orientation and selected environmental variables. We found that the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and their value orientation were substantially more important in explaining the individual level of nature connectedness than environmental variables. The NC‐index was positively correlated with the frequency of visits to the natural environment and biospheric values of the respondents, and was higher for women and the most prosperous respondents. Moreover, we observed several country‐wise differences in associations between explanatory variables and NC‐index. For example, altruistic orientation was positively related to the level of nature connectedness only in Greece, but not in two other countries, and residence during childhood was important to nature connectedness only in Sweden. Our findings that some sociodemographic, socioeconomic and value orientation variables affect the level of individual nature connectedness across studied countries are encouraging. They indicate that some universally applied educational actions may elevate the level of nature connectedness. We argue that exploration of nature connectedness from a cross‐country perspective may provide significant insights into the environmental debate in national and international contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Η ενδυνάμωση της θετικής σχέσης του ανθρώπου με τη φύση προάγει την φιλοπεριβαλλοντική συμπεριφορά και συμβάλλει στην περιβαλλοντική βιωσιμότητα Ως εκ τούτου, η κατανόηση της σχέσης του ανθρώπου με τη φύση έχει προσελκύσει αυξανόμενο ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον. Για τη μέτρηση της σχέσης αυτής αναπτύχθηκε η έννοια «σύνδεση του ανθρώπου με τη φύση». Δεδομένου ότι πρόκειται για μία πολυπαραγοντική έννοια η οποία εξαρτάται από το εκάστοτε καθοριζόμενο πλαίσιο αναφοράς, ο εντοπισμός των παραγόντων που την καθορίζουν προϋποθέτει την περαιτέρω διερεύνηση μέσω σύγκρισης των κοινωνικοπολιτισμικών και περιβαλλοντικών παραγόντων διαφορετικών χωρών. Στην παρούσα μελέτη εξετάζεται η επίδραση των κοινωνικο‐δημογραφικών χαρακτηριστικών, του προσανατολισμού των αξιών καθώς και περιβαλλοντικών μεταβλητών στη σύνδεση του ανθρώπου με τη φύση σε 3 διαφορετικές χώρες της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (ΕΕ). Συγκεκριμένα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν 11 παράγοντες κοινωνικο‐δημογραφικοί και προσωπικών αξιών, προερχόμενοι από έρευνα μέσω διαδικτύου (CAWI—Computer Assisted Web Interviews) και 6 περιβαλλοντικές μεταβλητές που χαρακτηρίζουν τα τοπικά περιβάλλοντα ως επεξηγηματικές μεταβλητές της σύνδεσης με την φύση των 1054 ερωτηθέντων σε Ελλάδα, Πολωνία και Σουηδία. Το ατομικό επίπεδο σύνδεσης με τη φύση (μεταβλητή απόκρισης) εκφράστηκε με έναν επιπρόσθετο δείκτη (NC‐index) βασιζόμενο σε κλίμακα 5 στοιχείων προερχόμενη από το CAWI. Για τη σύνδεση του NC‐index με τον προσανατολισμό αξιών, τις κοινωνικο‐δημογραφικές και τις περιβαλλοντικές μεταβλητές εφαρμόστηκε το γενικό προσθετικό μοντέλο. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, τα κοινωνικο‐δημογραφικά χαρακτηριστικά και ο προσανατολισμός των αξιών των ερωτηθέντων ήταν ουσιαστικά πιο σημαντικά, από ότι οι περιβαλλοντικές μεταβλητές, όσον αφορά στο ατομικό επίπεδο σύνδεσης των ερωτηθέντων με τη φύση. Ο NC‐index συσχετίστηκε θετικά με τη συχνότητα επισκέψεων στο φυσικό περιβάλλον και τις βιοσφαιρικές αξίες των ερωτηθέντων και ήταν υψηλότερος για τις γυναίκες και τους πιο ευημερούντες ερωτηθέντες. Επιπλέον, παρατηρήθηκαν αρκετές διαφορές ανά χώρα στις συσχετίσεις μεταξύ των επεξηγηματικών μεταβλητών και του NC‐index. Για παράδειγμα, ο αλτρουιστικός προσανατολισμός συσχετίστηκε θετικά με το επίπεδο σύνδεσης με τη φύση μόνο στην Ελλάδα, ενώ η διαμονή κατά την παιδική ηλικία ήταν σημαντική για τη σύνδεση με τη φύση μόνο στη Σουηδία. Τα ευρήματα ότι ορισμένες κοινωνικο‐δημογραφικές μεταβλητές και μεταβλητές προσανατολισμού αξιών επηρεάζουν το επίπεδο της σύνδεσης του ανθρώπου με τη φύση στις υπό μελέτη χώρες, είναι ενθαρρυντικά. Υποδεικνύουν ότι η διεθνής εφαρμογή ορισμένων εκπαιδευτικών δράσεων μπορεί να αυξήσει το επίπεδο της σύνδεσης του ανθρώπου με τη φύση. Υποστηρίζεται ότι, η διερεύνηση της σύνδεσης του ανθρώπου με τη φύση σε διάφορες χώρες μπορεί να παρέχει σημαντικές γνώσεις για τον περιβαλλοντικό διάλογο σε εθνικό και διεθνές πλαίσιο. Wzmacnianie pozytywnych relacji człowiek‐przyroda jest sposobem na bardziej prośrodowiskowe zachowania i prowadzi do większego zrównoważenia środowiskowego. Dlatego też coraz więcej badaczy interesuje się zrozumieniem relacji człowiek‐przyroda. Więź z naturą (nature connectedness) to koncepcja opracowana w celu pomiaru takich relacji. Ponieważ poziom więzi z naturą jest złożony i zależny od kontekstu, potrzeba więcej badań porównujących czynniki społeczno‐kulturowe i środowiskowe w różnych krajach, aby lepiej zrozumieć czynniki jakie wpływają na połączenie z naturą. W sondażu internetowym wspomaganym komputerowo (CAWI) zbadaliśmy, w jaki sposób cechy społeczno‐demograficzne i orientacja na wartości respondentów oraz zmienne środowiskowe wpłynęły na więzi z naturą w różnych krajach Unii Europejskiej. Wykorzystaliśmy 11 czynników demograficznych i osobistych wartości oraz 6 zmiennych środowiskowych charakteryzujących lokalne środowiska jako zmienne niezależne, aby wyjaśnić związek z naturą respondentów w Grecji, Polsce i Szwecji (N = 1054). Indywidualny poziom więzi z naturą został wyrażony za pomocą wskaźnika addytywnego (NC‐index) opartego na 5‐punktowej skali pochodzącej z CAWI. Ogólny model addytywny został zastosowany w celu powiązania indeksu NC ze zmiennymi społeczno‐demograficznymi, orientacją na wartości i wybranymi zmiennymi środowiskowymi. Z analiz wynika, że cechy społeczno‐demograficzne respondentów i ich orientacja na wartości były znacznie ważniejsze w wyjaśnianiu indywidualnego poziomu więzi z naturą niż zmienne środowiskowe. Indeks NC był dodatnio skorelowany z częstotliwością wizyt w środowisku naturalnym i wartościami biosferycznymi respondentów, a także był wyższy dla kobiet i zamożnych respondentów. Ponadto zaobserwowaliśmy kilka różnic w zależności od kraju w powiązaniach między zmiennymi objaśniającymi a wskaźnikiem NC. Na przykład altruistyczna orientacja była pozytywnie związana z poziomem więzi z naturą tylko w Grecji, ale nie w dwóch innych krajach, a miejsce zamieszkania w dzieciństwie było ważne dla więzi z naturą tylko w Szwecji. Nasze ustalenia, że niektóre zmienne społeczno‐demograficzne i orientacja na wartości wpływają na poziom indywidualnej więzi z naturą w badanych krajach, są zachęcające do dalszej eksploracji. Wskazują one, że niektóre powszechnie stosowane działania edukacyjne mogą podnieść poziom więzi z naturą. Twierdzimy, że badanie więzi z naturą z perspektywy różnych krajów może dostarczyć istotnych informacji na temat debaty środowiskowej w kontekście krajowym i międzynarodowym. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

To implement policies about sustainable landscapes and rural development necessitates social learning about states and trends of sustainability indicators, norms that define sustainability, and adaptive multi-level governance. We evaluate the extent to which social learning at multiple governance levels for sustainable landscapes occur in 18 local development initiatives in the network of Sustainable Bergslagen in Sweden. We mapped activities over time, and interviewed key actors in the network about social learning. While activities resulted in exchange of experiences and some local solutions, a major challenge was to secure systematic social learning and make new knowledge explicit at multiple levels. None of the development initiatives used a systematic approach to secure social learning, and sustainability assessments were not made systematically. We discuss how social learning can be improved, and how a learning network of development initiatives could be realized.

Agroforestry systems provide multiple benefits for human wellbeing and biodiversity; however, their diversity and spatial distribution has sharply declined across Europe. This study focuses on agroforestry farms in Sweden. The aim of the study was to explore farmers’ motivations to start agroforestry, what benefits farmers attributed to their agroforestry farms and perceived challenges to practising agroforestry in Sweden. In total, 13 farms that practise various agroforestry forms were selected as case studies. A focus group, semi-structured interviews and field observations were used for data collection. We identified four types of agroforestry systems such as silvopasture, silvoarable, forest farming and forest gardens established on different land such as forested or agricultural land. All studied agroforestry farms were small but had complex spatial and temporal arrangements of crops, trees and animals, which were crucial to generating multiple benefits. Our results show that the multifunctionality of agroforestry systems resulted from farmers’ desire to design such systems. Farmers’ intentions to get foods and materials from their farms were always intentionally unified with multiple ecosystem services. We argue that agroforestry farmers are designers of multifunctional landscapes, as they deliberately organised their farming activities to get a bundle of ecosystem services belonging to all four categories—provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural. However, the complexity of agroforestry management, lack of technologies suitable for small-scale agroforestry farms, limited plant materials (including seedlings) and limited knowledge about how to do agroforestry challenged the scaling up of agroforestry practices.

Loss of large carnivore populations may lead to increased population densities of large herbivores, and subsequent cascading effects on the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems. Using a macroecological approach based on studies in multiple boreal forest landscapes in the Baltic Sea region and Russia, we tested the hypothesis that disrupted trophic interactions among large carnivores and large herbivores affect the recruitment of both ecologically and economically valuable tree species. We measured damage levels on young trees and large herbivore density in 10 local landscapes representing a gradient from extinct to extant populations of both large carnivores and large herbivores. We also tested the alternative hypothesis that forest management intensity is correlated to reduced recruitment of these tree species. At the macroecological scale there was an inverse relationship between the number of large carnivores and large herbivores. This coincided with a steep gradient in browsing damage on the ecologically important aspen, rowan and sallow as hosts for specialized species, as well as the economically important Scots pine. In one landscape hunting had replaced the presence of carnivores. Mean damage levels of these four tree species were correlated with large herbivore abundance, but not with forest management intensity. We discuss the pros and cons of this macroecological approach, as well as the challenge of governing and managing trophic interactions at multiple scales.