European Wood-pastures in Transition: A social-ecological approach

This new book takes a social-ecological approach to address management of a very specific type of European cultural landscape: the wood pasture.

Photo: Claudia Bieling

Wood-pastures are important elements of European cultural identity and have an exceptional ecological value, yet they are in decline all over Europe. The structure of wood-pastures is strongly influenced by grazing and multiple other land uses and by local and regional environmental conditions.

This book examines the diverse expressions of wood-pastures across Europe. It provides a new perspective, using a social-ecological framework to explore social and ecological values, governing institutions, threats and conservation approaches. It explores the major drivers of decline, which are shown to be related to accelerated cultural, institutional and developmental changes occurring across Europe over the past century. Case studies are included from North-Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe.

The editors are Tibor Hartel and Tobias Plielinger.