People’s attitudes towards the agrifood system influence the value of ecosystem services of mountain agroecosystems

Abstract

Studies covering the social valuation of ecosystem services (ES) are increasingly incorporating people’s attitudes, which allows social heterogeneity to be identified. This is especially relevant in mountain areas, where diverse complex interactions occur among the environment, the socioeconomic system, and a wide variety of farming practices. In this context, we aimed to: (i) identify the attitudinal dimensions that build people views about the agrifood system; and (ii) analyse how these attitudinal dimensions influence the value given to ES delivered by mountain agroecosystems of two European countries. We conducted a survey with a sample of 1008 individuals evenly distributed in the Italian Alps and Spanish Mediterranean mountain areas to collect information on people’s attitudes toward: (i) the economy and the environment; (ii) rural development and agricultural intensification; (iii) food quality, production, and consumption; and (iv) agricultural and environmental policies. The survey included a choice experiment to assess the value that individuals attach to the most relevant ES provided by mountain agroecosystems in these areas (i.e., landscape, biodiversity, quality local products, wildfires prevention and water quality). The results showed four common attitudinal dimensions, namely Economy over environment, Mass-Market distribution reliability, Agricultural productivism, and Environmentalism and rural lifestyle. These attitudinal dimensions resulted in six groups of respondents. Most groups positively valued an increase in the delivery of all the analysed ES, which suggests that agricultural policies which aim to promote ES are likely to receive social support in the study areas. However, the differing attitudinal dimensions underlying people’s preferences may result in disagreements about the steps to be taken to achieve the desired increase in ES delivery.