Smith, Darrell (2014) A values-based wood-fuel landscape evaluation: building a fuzzy logic framework to integrate socio-cultural, ecological, and economic value. Doctoral thesis, Lancaster University. Downloaded from: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3191/ Usage of any items from the University of Cumbria’s institutional repository ‘Insight’ must conform to the following fair usage guidelines. 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Alternatively contact the University of Cumbria Repository Editor by emailing [email protected]. A values-based wood-fuel landscape evaluation: building a fuzzy logic framework to integrate socio- cultural, ecological, and economic value by Darrell Jon Smith BSc (Hons.) Lancaster University 2014 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Submitted: October 2014, word count: 76 422. Declaration I declare that no material in this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree at this or any other university. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent and the information derived from it should be acknowledged. Page | I Abstract Title: A values-based wood-fuel landscape evaluation: building a fuzzy logic framework to integrate socio-cultural, ecological, and economic value. Author: Darrell Jon Smith, BSc (Hons.) Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Submitted: October 2014 Word count: 76 422 In meeting the UK Governments national and international renewable energies commitments and their role in UK energy security, decarbonisation of energy use, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation, the recognition of a potential for considerable scaling up of UK woodland coverage is emphasised. Also, UK forestry has increasingly become realigned with the global sustainability agenda encompassing issues such as native woodlands, the decline of woodland biodiversity, the Government’s quality of life indicators, and ideas of socio- cultural, ecological and economic landscape scale values. Accordingly, socio-cultural interaction with the natural world places structure and components into the landscape, the subsequent combinations of which are characterised by consequent ecological and economic conditions. As a consequence compositional, structural, spatial and temporal differences produce different value outcomes. This thesis explores these value outcomes illustrating the multi-dimensional nature of the relationships that society experience with their surrounding landscape, across a range of case study wood-fuel producing landscapes. The case study landscapes describe traditional silvo-pastoral management, Natura 2000 forest, primarily managed around ideas of ecosystem goods and services, co-operatively and commercially owned sustainable forestry. Differences in value are observed between and within landscapes, value domains and value components. These differences reflect tensions that exist between sustainability and society’s continued use of natural resources. Consequently value articulates the nature of relationships between and within multiple value components, characterised by competing socio-cultural, ecological, economic interests. Thus Page | II value, as a concept, is built through an understanding of the connected, embedded nature of society’s relationship with the natural world. Using a novel fuzzy logic modelling based approach to valuation, the consequences of land- use choices and the associated changes across socio-cultural, ecological and economic value domains are made visible. Understanding the complex nature of these interrelated and interdependent relationships can inform the political and institutional decision making and policy setting process. In this manner knowledge of interaction, interdependence and the reality of trade-offs, consistent with systems describe by finitude, can support and facilitate deliberative discourse. Where the true nature of value is considered an emergent property expressed through an appreciation of the value components and the outcomes of their relationships. Thus value is fundamentally a comparative property and not the outcome of an accumulative argument. Page | III Acknowledgements Firstly I’d like to thank everyone who helped me throughout the process of completing this thesis, thank you. Most importantly I am very grateful to everyone who participated in the research, whether by sharing their views and experience, helping with the organisational practicalities, or with the day-to-day business of completing this project. More specifically, this includes the communities of Askham, UK, Tsepelovo, Greece, and Rechnitz, Austria, for allowing me to spend time with them. The Greek Forest Service in Ioannina and in particular Rigas Tsiakiris for all his assistance, the Mayor of Zagori, Gavriil Papanastasiou and his office, particularly Vasso and Thomas for their help, and the Mayor of Rechnitz, Engelbert Kenyeri. I would also like to thank Vasso, Antigone, Giorgis, Thomas, Takis, Illias and Beatrice for making my stay in Tsepelovo and Rechnitz a pleasurable experience rather than just work. I am also grateful to the UK Energy Research Centre for funding this studentship and to the University of Cumbria for hosting it. A big thank you goes to my supervisors, Ian Convery, Andrew Ramsey, Viktor Kouloumpis and Andreas Ottitsch who have provided continued advice and encouragement – I have enjoyed working with you all. Last but definitely not least, a final thank you goes to Juliet and Noah, who have endured endless new, interesting ideas and facts whilst providing support, understanding and help in so many ways – I really appreciate everything. Page | IV Glossary - definitions for the purpose of this study Ecosystem – a place where biotic and abiotic factors interact, where organisms interact with their environment (Elton, 1927; Tansley, 1935). Ecosystems exhibit temporal variability, spatial heterogeneity, hierarchical scaling and non-linear dynamic processes (Holling, 1973; De Leo & Levin, 1997; Levin, 1999), boundaries are fuzzy and permeable to the movement of both energy and organisms (Cadenasso et al., 2003; Post et al., 2007). The component parts are subject to selection processes and self organisation leads to endogenous pattern formation and emergent properties (Levin, 1998). The interaction between living elements and their environment is central to the concept of an ecosystem. Adoption of a systems perspective logically extends to including society as an integral component of ecosystems (O'Neill, 2001; Pickett et al., 2005). Evaluation – the process by which the ‘value’ of a particular action or object is expressed (Farber et al., 2002). Landscape – refers to an area defined by administrative boundaries. Although, it is recognised that, whilst this scale of observation represents local interactions, ecological, societal and economic boundaries may differ, will be permeable and are subject to external structural, functional and compositional (temporal, spatial and organisational) influences (Cadenasso et al., 2003; Pickett et al., 2005; Post et al., 2007). This approach is consistent with the hierarchical scale of interactions inherent within complex adaptive systems and acknowledges that the scale of any observation, by necessity, becomes defined by the observer (De Leo & Levin, 1997; O'Neill, 2001; Jax, 2005). This approach places the influence of society on landscape as a determinative element in the interactions between the societal, ecological and economic domains. In this relationship natural resources are managed to produce goods and services for the benefit of society. Page | V Learning-by-doing – Haila (1999) describes a scenario where management systems are adaptive, reflexive and sensitive to local situations, and in which the historical experience of traditional resource use institutions direct future actions. This position reflects a respect for the capacity of nature to replenish the earth’s life support systems, which is internalised in to all types of human activity (Haila, 1999). The ethical perspective is holistic; culture and nature occupy the same space. Nature is seen as a necessity for the existence of human culture, where all human activities are played out in the same biophysical processes as are the activities of other organisms (Haila, 1999). Natural resources – refers to the natural components of ecosystem structure, their processes and interactions, the products of which provide a flow of goods and services, direct and indirect, to human societies (De Groot