How loss of nature through clear-cutting forestry affects well-being

Abstract

Abstract The United Nations declares that the global degradation of ecosystems represents a danger to human health. Deterioration of forests is one of several threats against the natural systems. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate people’s experiences with clear-cutting and how it had affected their health and well-being. Qualitative data from six people who valued forest ecosystems were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed in accordance with Graneheim and Lundman’s qualitative content analysis (Graneheim, U. H. and Lundman, B. (2004) Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24, 105–112). Clear-cutting was not regarded as an environment-friendly forestry method. The interviewees described emotional reactions such as grief and poor mental well-being when beloved forests were clear-felled. The grief was partly because of a personal loss of place and recreation area that was important for their physical and emotional well-being. Another part was grief on behalf of nature itself, that is, the loss of habitats of animals and plants and a worsening of the global climate. The interviewees held that emotions related to loss of nature were insufficiently communicated in public discourse. They felt powerless and unable to influence forestry because of what they experienced as an impenetrable industry. Clear-cutting of forests may result in poor well-being among people who value forest ecosystems. More focus on planetary health is needed, including healthy public policy promoting forest management that considers people’s need for nature experiences and possible ecological grief when forests are totally and abruptly cleared.