Investigating social acceptability for public forest management policies as a function of social factors

Several policy instruments have been proposed in order to minimize the negative impacts of local communities' activities on forests. The present paper presents an empirical survey conducted in a Greek forest area on the island of Lesvos, focusing on citizens' perceptions of alternative management scenarios along with the role of social factors on these perceptions. Our results demonstrate that citizens are supportive of policies which are not solely state-based. Furthermore, higher levels of local social capital are positively correlated with citizens' perceptions in favor of proposed co-management policies.

► The co-management scenario had the highest level of social acceptability. ► The state-based scenario had the lowest level of social acceptability. ► Institutional and social trust have a strong influence on citizens' perceptions. ► More active citizens tend to accept the proposed scenarios.