Conservation in conversation: People's perspectives on a woodland with high conservation value-A qualitative study

Concepts such as ecosystem services and nature's contributions to people are frameworks for articulating the value of nature and biodiversity conservation. Yet it remains difficult to argue for the conservation of species and habitats where they are inconspicuous or 'non-charismatic'. This paper investigates the perceptions of a woodland area in rural western Scotland, designated for its high conservation value and characterised by habitats, rare species and species assemblages with limited appreciation by non-experts and no obvious 'utility' value. Based on interviews with residents and visitors as well as workshops with participants representing different types of local expertise, we show how people experience and perceive the benefits from such woodlands. Overall, our study participants emphasised values and ecosystem services that benefitted humans, strongly drawing on stories of cultural or historical land use to argue for more material opportunities to be created. For those participants without ecological expertise, the designated conservation value, albeit respected and accepted, remained vague and bland. Participants also articulated a strong underlying development logic, pushing in some way for 'more' to be made from the woodlands so that more people could receive benefits from the woodland either directly (e.g. mental restoration; increased use for recreation) or indirectly (e.g. through creating jobs in the local tourism industry). Our findings suggest that managing for conservation alone might cause challenges in acceptability, especially where the species and habitats conserved are of little obvious value to the non-specialist. At the same time, participants recognised that they valued the woodland being unique in some way, and that increasing the material use of the woods might harm the very essence of what made it special

Old Wine in New Bottles : Exploiting Data from the EU's Farm Accountancy Data Network for Pan-EU Sustainability Assessments of Agricultural Production Systems

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe paper presents insights from carrying out a pan-EU sustainability assessment using Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data (the old wine) with societal metabolism accounting (SMA) processes (the new bottles). The SMA was deployed as part of a transdisciplinary study with EU policy stakeholders of how EU policy may need to change to deliver sustainability commitments, particularly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The paper outlines the concepts underlying SMA and its specific implementation using the FADN data. A key focus was on the interactions between crop and livestock systems and how this determines imported feedstuffs requirements, with environmental and other footprints beyond the EU. Examples of agricultural production systems performance are presented in terms of financial/efficiency, resource use (particularly the water footprint) and quantifies potential pressures on the environment. Benefits and limitations of the FADN dataset and the SMA outputs are discussed, highlighting the challenges of linking quantified pressures with environmental impacts. The paper concludes that the complexity of agriculture's interactions with economy and society means there is great need for conceptual frameworks, such as SMA, that can take multiple, non-equivalent, perspectives and that can be deployed with policy stakeholders despite generating uncomfortable knowledge