Milestone 3.1: Report on Joint D5-1 / D5-2 Natural Capital Stakeholder Workshop – 19th May 2023

This report summarises ideas discussed during a workshop jointly organised between the project RESAS JHI D5-1, Bringing in participatory approaches to widen the scope of Natural Capital Valuation and the project RESAS JHI D5-2, Climate change impacts on Natural Capital, to explore forest and woodland values and valuation, and risk perceptions of climate change and its impacts on natural capital. After a general introduction of the two projects, stakeholders were split according to their will and interest into two groups, one discussing valuation, the other climate change risk and mitigation strategies. The two breakout sessions were facilitated using a virtual board for participants to report their ideas as single keywords, messages, etc., that were discussed and commented upon following some prompts prepared by the facilitators before the meeting. This report refers to emerging common values in the forest and woodland context, gaps in valuation and opportunities to implement valuation approaches considering the impacts of climate change.

Main findings reveal a limited integration in practice of cultural values, indicating indirectly a higher influence on decision-making from the analysis of those ecosystem services that generate direct monetary benefits. Notwithstanding the absence or limited capacity to encapsulate communities’ perspectives in the valuation process and decision-making by eliciting preferences for sense of place and more broadly cultural identity, we positively observed that the forestry industry is ready to implement plans that are not only based on the mere value of timber but consider multiple functionalities of forest in order to respond to the effects of climate change. In addition, it emerged more than once that the valuation process is characterised by a nature of duality, where values can be assigned as a result of either personal or professional interests. Between the two dimensions it is possible to see the generation of feedback loops, wherein the values constructed in one realm influence those constructed in the other, and vice-versa. This dichotomy can generate frustrations because personal and professional values do not always match up and can result in some values (often economic or policy-led) being valued more highly than others. Addressing this dichotomy is not a common practice, research tending to favour communal over subjective values. Implementing a valuation framework that fill these gaps can be a relevant direction for our future research and for practice to facilitate shaping policies that reflect and retain local values in decision-making.