Seeing, believing, acting: climate change attitudes and adaptation of Hungarian forest managers

Abstract

Climate change attitudes, perceptions, and adaptation activities of Hungarian forestry managers have been examined in this study through a national questionnaire and interviews. The questionnaire results revealed that respondents are mainly concerned by the decrease in snow-covered days, but differences in opinions can be attributed to geographical location and forest composition. Forest management aimed at climate change adaptation in Hungary is still in the initial phase: only 16% of respondents reported the application of climate change adaptation measures. Many foresters claim legislative constraints frequently hinder their efforts to implement such measures; those who have implemented adaptation measures show an increased concern toward climate change, on average. They have been aware of climate change for a longer time and consider it a serious problem affecting their management activities. The questionnaire results indicate that the adaptations of state forest managers are at about the same level as private foresters. Moreover, a high level of concern combined with nature conservation factors does not hinder adaptation. Nevertheless, interview respondents reported that nature conservation factors are hindrances to adaptation processes.

Spatial and temporal analysis of drought-related climate indices for Hungary for 1971–2100

“…The Hungarian foresters are dominantly aware of the effects of the projected climate change according to an interview-based study (i.e., Jankó, F. et al 2022), however, the number of respondents who have already initiated adaptations is rather low. These applied adaptations so far include changing the composition of the forest area.…”

A klímaváltozáshoz való viszonyulás a magyar társadalomban

“…A nemzeti éghajlatváltozási stratégiaalkotás (Nemzeti Éghajlatváltozási Stratégia) már 2008-as elfogadása óta fogalmazza meg a legfontosabb tennivalókat, a hazai települések klímavédelmi tervezése azonban csak 2018-tól indult el széles körben (Óvári-Farkas-Kovács 2024). A klímavédelmi szempontok más tervekbe történő integrációja a legtöbb helyen még kezdeti stádiumban van (Grönholm 2022), sőt a hazai erdészek adaptációra irányuló intézkedéseinek aránya is meglehetősen szerény (Jankó et al 2022). Így feltételezhető, hogy a szakpolitikában megfogalmazott célok egyéni szintű megvalósítása is várat magára.…”