Increased appreciation of forests and their restorative effects during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Public expectations of forests as high-quality restorative environments that facilitate subjective well-being and stress relief along with numerous health benefits have been rising sharply during recent decades. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictive measures also transformed forests into some of the few places to spend time away from home. The presented study drew on the assumption that the pandemic situation and a rise in the number of forest visits would affect the experience, recognition, and appreciation of the well-being aspects related to spending time in forests. The study goal was to elucidate the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the relationships between forest visits, well-being and stress relief, emotions, perception of nature and forest value and importance, pro-environmental behavior, and societal expectations of the role of forests and forest ecosystem services. A survey using a digital questionnaire was conducted several months after the pandemic outbreak on a representative sample of the Slovak population. The Wilcoxon test and ordinal regression analysis were used to identify significant relationships, e.g., between the recency of anger episodes and the number of forest visits. The results showed that the pandemic strengthened the perception of forests as a high-quality restorative environment and that emotions associated with forest visits played an important role in the perceived importance of forests and their possible overexploitation. The results underscore the urgent need to put demands for forest recreation on par with the forest bioeconomy and to sensitize forest visitors to management and conservation requirements.

Ecosystem services at risk from disturbance in Europe's forests

“…Losing this service could thus lead to a loss in forest cover, which could have detrimental secondary effects on other ecosystem services, particularly in mountain areas where humans depend strongly on the protective effect of forests (Moos et al., 2023). The recreational value of forests and their contribution to human well‐being has recently increased during the Covid19 pandemic (Muro et al., 2022; Pichlerová et al., 2023). As the share of humans living in cities continues to grow, the importance of forests as recreational regions will further increase, particularly in areas of high population density such as in Central and Western Europe (Vallecillo et al., 2019) (Figure S2).…”

Preferences for woodland activities and forest features as predictors of well-being after forest visits: Evidence from a nationally representative survey in Slovakia

“…As forests cover some 42% of the Slovak territory, it was assumed that they became one of the few environments available for outdoor recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Pichlerová et al ( 2021 , 2023 ), the number of forest visits per person per month increased by approximately 9%, especially in the 30–44 years age category.…”

“…It consisted of 10 binary and 7 Likert-scale questions used to capture and evaluate the respondents' agreement or disagreement with the proposed statements regarding the purpose of a forest visit and preference for forest features (Table 2 ). Data on perceived SWB and stress relief on the ordinal scale were taken from our earlier work (Pichlerová et al 2023 ).…”

“… To what extent do you agree with the following statements about forest visits? 1 Fully agree 2 Somewhat agree 3 Somewhat disagree 4 Fully disagree F1 Trees of different age F2 Presence of old trees F3 Trees of different species F4 Trees of different height F5 Presence of deadwood F6 Forest smell F7 Forest sounds Well-being and stress relief SWB After visiting the forest, I feel better than before SR After visiting the forest, I am less stressed and calmer Data on perceived subjective well-being (SWB) and stress relief (SR) on the ordinal scale were taken from our earlier works (Pichlerová et al 2023 ). Forest uneven agedness was understood as stand diameter irregularity (Martín-Alcón et al 2010 ).…”

“… Data on perceived subjective well-being (SWB) and stress relief (SR) on the ordinal scale were taken from our earlier works (Pichlerová et al 2023 ). Forest uneven agedness was understood as stand diameter irregularity (Martín-Alcón et al 2010 ).…”