Forests for Well-being: Exploring Public Preferences for Forest Complexity – A European Perspective

Abstract

Forests are vital for outdoor recreation, benefiting mental, physical, and social well-being. While the importance of forest structure in supporting biodiversity and material ecosystem functions is well-documented, research on its relationship with non-material contributions to people remains limited, and there is a lack of robust indicators for this relationship. Our study addresses this gap by estimating the economic value of recreational benefits provided by forests and quantifying the link between forest complexity and the non-material benefits forests provide. We conducted a large-scale preference survey across 12 European countries (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, and Switzerland), involving 11,622 respondents. Our findings reveal significant positive correlations between forest complexity and benefits from forest visits. Preferences for older stands with diverse tree species and greater structural complexity were strongly evident across all surveyed countries. Moreover, forests with more complex structures were associated with higher annual visitation frequencies, highlighting the importance of forest quality in driving people’s exposure to nature.