Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests
The development of societies, including spiritual development, is closely connected to forests. The larger interrelations among changing societies, transforming forest landscapes, and evolving spiritual values related to forests have yet to be extensively considered. Addressing this research gap is...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss4/art20 |
| _version_ | 1828079543659790336 |
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| author | Jeanne-Lazya Roux Agata A. Konczal Andreas Bernasconi Shonil A. Bhagwat Rik De Vreese Ilaria Doimo Valentino Marini Govigli Jan Kašpar Ryo Kohsaka Davide Pettenella Tobias Plieninger Zahed Shakeri Shingo Shibata Kalliopi Stara Takuya Takahashi Mario Torralba Liisa Tyrväinen Gerhard Weiss Georg Winkel |
| author_facet | Jeanne-Lazya Roux Agata A. Konczal Andreas Bernasconi Shonil A. Bhagwat Rik De Vreese Ilaria Doimo Valentino Marini Govigli Jan Kašpar Ryo Kohsaka Davide Pettenella Tobias Plieninger Zahed Shakeri Shingo Shibata Kalliopi Stara Takuya Takahashi Mario Torralba Liisa Tyrväinen Gerhard Weiss Georg Winkel |
| author_sort | Jeanne-Lazya Roux |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The development of societies, including spiritual development, is closely connected to forests. The larger interrelations among changing societies, transforming forest landscapes, and evolving spiritual values related to forests have yet to be extensively considered. Addressing this research gap is important to avoid the neglect of spiritual values in forest policy and management. Our exploratory study investigates spiritual values of forests from European and Asian perspectives, assessing 13 countries. Based on expert knowledge from 18 interdisciplinary experts, we first define forest spiritual values (forest spirituality). We then elaborate on the idea that forest spirituality evolves as societies and landscapes change, and propose a transition hypothesis for forest spirituality. We identify indicators and drivers and portray four stages of such a transition using country-specific examples. We find that during a first stage (“nature is powerful”), forest spirituality is omnipresent through the abundance of sacred natural sites and practices of people who often directly depend on forests for their livelihoods. An alternative form of spirituality is observed in the second stage (“taming of nature”). Connected to increasing transformation of forest landscapes and intensifying land-use practices, “modern” religions guide human–nature interrelations. In a third stage (“rational management of nature”), forest spirituality is overshadowed by planned rational forest management transforming forests into commodities for the economy, often focusing on provisioning ecosystem services. During a fourth stage (“reconnecting with nature”), a revival of forest spirituality (re-spiritualization) can be observed due to factors such as urbanization and individualizing spirituality. Our core contribution is in showing the connections among changing forest perceptions, changing land-use governance and practices, and changing forest spirituality. Increasing the understanding of this relationship holds promise for supporting forest policy-making and management in addressing trade-offs between spiritual values and other aspects of forests. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:02:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80e9f90e753345a7851640147af866e2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:02:56Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-80e9f90e753345a7851640147af866e22023-01-02T13:45:38ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872022-12-012742010.5751/ES-13509-27042013509Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forestsJeanne-Lazya Roux0Agata A. Konczal1Andreas Bernasconi2Shonil A. Bhagwat3Rik De Vreese4Ilaria Doimo5Valentino Marini Govigli6Jan Kašpar7Ryo Kohsaka8Davide Pettenella9Tobias Plieninger10Zahed Shakeri11Shingo Shibata12Kalliopi Stara13Takuya Takahashi14Mario Torralba15Liisa Tyrväinen16Gerhard Weiss17Georg Winkel18European Forest Institute, Governance Programme, Bonn, GermanyEuropean Forest Institute, Governance Programme, Bonn, GermanyPan Bern AG, Bern, SwitzerlandThe Open University, Department of Geography, School of Social Sciences & Global Studies, Milton Keynes, UKEuropean Forest Institute, Resilience Programme, Bonn, GermanyEtifor, Valuing Nature - Padova University Spin-off, Padova, ItalyUniversity of Bologna, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Bologna, ItalyCzech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicUniversity of Tokyo, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Tokyo, JapanUniversity of Padova, Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, Legnaro, ItalyUniversity of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Göttingen, GermanyUniversity of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Göttingen, GermanySophia University, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Tokyo, JapanUniversity of Ioannina, Department of Biological Applications and Technology, Laboratory of Ecology, Ioannina, GreeceUniversity of Shiga Prefecture, School of Environmental Science, Shiga, JapanUniversity of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Göttingen, GermanyNatural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Bioeconomy and Environment Unit, Helsinki, FinlandUniversity of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Forest, Environmental and Natural Resource Policy, Vienna, AustriaEuropean Forest Institute, Governance Programme, Bonn, GermanyThe development of societies, including spiritual development, is closely connected to forests. The larger interrelations among changing societies, transforming forest landscapes, and evolving spiritual values related to forests have yet to be extensively considered. Addressing this research gap is important to avoid the neglect of spiritual values in forest policy and management. Our exploratory study investigates spiritual values of forests from European and Asian perspectives, assessing 13 countries. Based on expert knowledge from 18 interdisciplinary experts, we first define forest spiritual values (forest spirituality). We then elaborate on the idea that forest spirituality evolves as societies and landscapes change, and propose a transition hypothesis for forest spirituality. We identify indicators and drivers and portray four stages of such a transition using country-specific examples. We find that during a first stage (“nature is powerful”), forest spirituality is omnipresent through the abundance of sacred natural sites and practices of people who often directly depend on forests for their livelihoods. An alternative form of spirituality is observed in the second stage (“taming of nature”). Connected to increasing transformation of forest landscapes and intensifying land-use practices, “modern” religions guide human–nature interrelations. In a third stage (“rational management of nature”), forest spirituality is overshadowed by planned rational forest management transforming forests into commodities for the economy, often focusing on provisioning ecosystem services. During a fourth stage (“reconnecting with nature”), a revival of forest spirituality (re-spiritualization) can be observed due to factors such as urbanization and individualizing spirituality. Our core contribution is in showing the connections among changing forest perceptions, changing land-use governance and practices, and changing forest spirituality. Increasing the understanding of this relationship holds promise for supporting forest policy-making and management in addressing trade-offs between spiritual values and other aspects of forests.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss4/art20cultural ecosystem servicesrelational valuessacred forestsspiritual values of forestsspiritualitytransition hypothesis |
| spellingShingle | Jeanne-Lazya Roux Agata A. Konczal Andreas Bernasconi Shonil A. Bhagwat Rik De Vreese Ilaria Doimo Valentino Marini Govigli Jan Kašpar Ryo Kohsaka Davide Pettenella Tobias Plieninger Zahed Shakeri Shingo Shibata Kalliopi Stara Takuya Takahashi Mario Torralba Liisa Tyrväinen Gerhard Weiss Georg Winkel Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests Ecology and Society cultural ecosystem services relational values sacred forests spiritual values of forests spirituality transition hypothesis |
| title | Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests |
| title_full | Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests |
| title_fullStr | Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests |
| title_short | Exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in Europe and Asia: a transition hypothesis toward re-spiritualizing forests |
| title_sort | exploring evolving spiritual values of forests in europe and asia a transition hypothesis toward re spiritualizing forests |
| topic | cultural ecosystem services relational values sacred forests spiritual values of forests spirituality transition hypothesis |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss4/art20 |
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