Protecting peatlands requires understanding stakeholder perceptions and relational values: A case study of peatlands in the Yorkshire Dales

Abstract

Sustainable peatland management is a global environmental governance challenge given peat’s carbon storage. Peatlands worldwide are sites of contested demands between stakeholders with distinct management priorities. In the United Kingdom, peatland management is a focus of political interest for nature-based solutions (NBS), causing tensions with land managers who feel their traditional knowledge is undervalued. Using Q-method (a semi-quantitative method for clarifying distinct viewpoints) with estate managers, gamekeepers, farmers, and employees of land-owning organisations, we explored perceptions around changing upland management in the Yorkshire Dales. Land managers hold strong values of ownership, aesthetics, and stewardship. The prospect of changing management causes fears of losing these relational values alongside instrumental values. Yorkshire Dales stakeholders agreed on NBS aims (reducing flooding, limiting wildfires, protecting wild birds), but disagreed on methods to achieve these. Our research supports engaging local stakeholders at all stages of peatland protection schemes to minimise resentment towards top-down management.

Perceptions of farmers regarding peatland restoration model of paludiculture in South Sumatra, Indonesia

“…Most of the factors affecting perceptions of farmers can be categorized as internal and external [22], [44]. Perceptions of paludiculture model for peatland restoration offer solutions to the problems faced by farmers [45], [46] including how to interpret events, new ideas, and respond [33], [36], [47]. show the relationship between perceptions of several variables, namely production amount, capital, land-burning activities, farming experience, education, and income.…”

Poetic inquiry to explore the relational values of a transforming peat landscape

“…Harenda et al, 2018;Minayeva et al, 2017;Nichols & Peteet, 2019). There is a clear research gap concerning the relational values of peatlands (Flood et al, 2021;Lees et al, 2023), yet unravelling value plurality-beyond those of intrinsic and instrumental nature-is essential for more just decision-making in landscape transformation (IPBES, 2022). Relational values encompass the diverse connections between humans and nature, such as place attachment or the spiritual meaning of a place.…”

“…Future peatland management approaches need to include local manager perspectives and values related to peatlands (Lees et al, 2023). How people relate and connect to landscapes varies between different stakeholders and interest groups.…”