The impacts of social-ecological system change on human-nature connectedness: A case study from Transylvania, Romania

• Published in: Land use policy Vol. 89; p. 104232
• Main Authors: Balázsi, Ágnes, Riechers, Maraja, Hartel, Tibor, Leventon, Julia, Fischer, Joern
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2019; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: 20th century; 21st century; Accession; Case studies; Cognition; Cognitive ability; consumer behavior; Consumerism; cultural landscape; Ecological monitoring; Emotions; European Union; Food consumption; Food production; Globalization; Governance; humans; Institutional change; interviews; Land use; landscape management; Management; Natural environment; Politics; Reconnection to nature; Romania; Social interactions; Social-ecological systems; Socialism; socioeconomics; State; Traditional cultural landscapes; Transylvania; Romania; Reconnection to nature; Social-ecological systems; Transylvania; Traditional cultural landscapes
• ISSN: 0264-8377; 1873-5754
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104232

•Achieving more sustainable SES by fostering HNC has rarely been studied.•Rural SES are rich in complex HNC dimensions that are sensible on SES changes.•Land-use intensity drives changes in material, experiential, emotional dimensions.•Political, economic paradigms drive changes in cognitive, philosophical dimensions.•Collaborative governance could achieve tangible outcomes on sustainability by HNC. Contemporary Romania has been subject to several major social and institutional shifts that have had implications for the connectedness of humans with their environment. Four major governance eras have influenced human-nature connections: (1) formal and informal institutional governance after the World Wars and before socialism (before 1947), (2) top-down governance during socialism (1947–1989) and (3) during sovereign state governance and transition to European Union (1990–2006), and (4) multilevel governance since European Union accession (after 2007). We analyzed two cultural landscapes in Transylvania with respect to changes in human-nature connectedness. The two systems were similar at the beginning of the 20th century, but developed differently in their intensity of landscape management in the 21st century. Drawing on 41 semi-structured interviews, we examined changes that influenced landscape management and human-nature connectedness, considering five dimensions of connectedness: material, experiential, emotional, cognitive and philosophical. Material connections have weakened as a result of changes in food production and rising consumerism. Experiential and emotional connections were influenced by socio-economic and landscape management changes. Cognitive connections reflected changes in the knowledge system on the environment. Philosophical connection was influenced by changes in ideologies and globalization. Our findings highlight the central influence of social and institutional change on perceived human-nature connectedness. Understanding this influence provides important pointers for how to reconnect humanity to nature in the coming decades.