Abstract
Natura 2000 is a network of European protected areas, established under the provision of two directives of the European Union: the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC; 2009/147/EU). The Natura 2000 network can be considered an interesting instrument to maintain and improve ecosystem services provided by protected sites. The European Union member countries are free to organize the participatory process in the implementation of the Natura 2000 network. The participatory process is often overlooked despite it being an important tool to increase the social acceptance and reduce conflicts among stakeholders with different interests. The aim of the present study is to investigate the stakeholders’ perceptions towards the ecosystem services provided by the Natura 2000 sites in the Czech Republic. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey involving 53 stakeholders (forester managers and nature conservation authorities) in all regions of the Czech Republic. The results show that for the respondents, the implementation of the Habitats and Birds Directives in the Czech Republic is very or quite important (54.7%), but at the same time, many respondents consider the Natura 2000 network an obstacle for economic activities close to the sites (66.0% of total respondents). In accordance with the stakeholders’ opinions, the three most important human activities near and inside the Natura 2000 sites are agricultural activities, followed by nature conservation interventions and forestry activities. The representatives of environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and academia emphasize the importance of nature conservation interventions, while the other groups of interest consider the provisioning services supplied by agricultural and forestry activities as the most relevant ecosystem services. The results of this study can be considered as the starting point aimed to improve the participatory process in the establishment and management of the Natura 2000 sites based on the stakeholders’ feelings and opinions.
Highlights
In recent decades, there has been an increasing interest in the socio-economic assessment of the ecosystem services provided by protected areas [1,2]
Eighty-seven stakeholders were contacted by email explaining the objective of the study and asking them for willingness to participate in the survey
Fifty-three stakeholders were willing to participate in the survey, and were divided into six groups of interest (Table 2): nature conservation authorities (24.5% of respondents), forest managers (35.9% of respondents), environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (18.9%), academia and research institutes (7.5%), municipality administration
Summary
There has been an increasing interest in the socio-economic assessment of the ecosystem services provided by protected areas [1,2]. This renewed interest is due to the key role of protected areas, e.g., national and regional parks, biosphere reserves and Natura 2000 sites, for biodiversity conservation at a landscape level associated with the provision of additional ecosystem services such as tourist-attracting landscapes, environmental education opportunities and agricultural and forestry products [3]. Protected areas can be considered of primary importance to mitigate biodiversity loss [5], and to maintain and improve the other three categories of ecosystem services recognized by the Millennium Ecosystem Services (2005): provisioning, regulating and cultural services. The habitats and species biodiversity conservation—included in the category of supporting services—can be considered the main purpose [8]
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