Why reconnect to nature in times of crisis? Ecosystem contributions to the resilience and well‐being of people going back to the land in Greece

Abstract

Multiple crises, including climate change, ecosystem degradation, economic, political and social upheavals, severely impact people's well‐being. Ecosystem services (or nature's contributions to people) play a key role during crisis that needs to be further elucidated. Most research focusses on the material benefits that ecosystems provide in times of crisis, paying less attention to intertwined intangible, nonmaterial dimensions. Yet, these intangible ecosystem benefits are often crucial for people's resilience and well‐being in times of need. We examine the role that nature plays for resilience and well‐being in times of crisis through a case study of Greece's back‐to‐the‐land movement during the European economic crisis. We conducted semistructured interviews with 76 households that had gone back‐to‐the‐land to understand why people sought to reconnect to nature and what their experiences were. Our results show that reconnecting to nature provided material ecosystem benefits such as food and income often from previously undervalued ecosystems (e.g. abandoned orchards) as well as nonmaterial ecosystem benefits such as mental health, feelings of safety, calm and independence that helped people cope with the crisis and adapt and transform to new socio‐ecological contexts. Participants reported that reconnecting to nature also changed their relational values. People mentioned gaining new perspectives, meanings and relationships with others and the natural world. While the crisis significantly affected people's material well‐being, reconnecting with nature helped people cope with crisis but also prompted a profound reevaluation of what constitutes a good life, leading to changes in their subjective and relational well‐being. This enhanced their capacity to act and plan for the future (their agency). Overall, our research emphasizes how reconnecting to nature and its multidimensional ecosystem benefits during crises can have transformative effects on individuals' resilience, well‐being and their relationships with the environment. Our research shows that not only material benefits of ecosystem services need to be valued but also intangible, nonmaterial benefits that affect material, subjective and relational dimensions of well‐being and resilience.

Nature connection in adulthood: The role of childhood nature experiences

“…Previous literature has shown that both the quantity and quality of nature contact (and the extent to which the contact includes active nature engagement) may enhance the nature connectedness of both children and adults (Barrable & Booth, 2020b;Sheffield et al, 2022). The role that connection to nature plays in promoting wellbeing might be particularly important for Greek adults given the recent history of economic crisis within the country and the way that going 'back to the land' supported some people navigating that tumultuous period (Benessaiah & Chan, 2023). Future research with Greek samples should investigate if those adults who are more connected to nature also experience greater well-being; if that is the case, subsequent work should then explore how childhood nature activities can be promoted more effectively in Greece to support life-long relationships with nature and improved wellbeing.…”

“…This may be for a variety of reasons, including seeing Greece as a representative of newly urbanised countries, as well as within the broader recent socio-economic context of Southern Europe, within which countries have experienced a rapid and progressive delocalisation of population over the last 50 years as well as pressing economic downturn (Vinci et al, 2022). However, it is important to note that previous research on Greece has reported fluid urban-rural linkages, and that in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis in Greece, revitalised relationships with nature brought along a range of benefits and implications for how people used nature to cope with crises (Benessaiah & Chan, 2023). Thus, the present study draws upon this unique context by asking Greek-speaking adult participants to reflect on their childhood experiences in nature, which took place during the pre-economic crisis, and their adulthood experiences and connections, most of which will have taken place during or after the economic crisis, to understand the links through a longitudinal lens.…”