The influence of landscape change on multiple dimensions of human-nature connectedness

Abstract

Human-nature connectedness is hailed as a potential remedy for the current sustainability crisis, yet it is also deeply affected by it. Here, we perform a comprehensive assessment of human-nature connectedness that includes material, experiential, cognitive, emotional, and philosophical dimensions. We show that these dimensions of human-nature connectedness are strongly interlinked, especially via emotional and experiential connectedness. Our findings showcase a cross-country comparison of four focal landscapes in Transylvania, Romania and Lower Saxony, Germany, which represent gradients from minor and gradual to relatively major and rapid landscape change. Based on content analysis of 73 in-depth interviews, we show that landscape change was seen by the interviewees to have a strong, and often negative, influence on multiple dimensions of human-nature connectedness. Focusing only on isolated dimensions of human-nature connectedness could inadvertently exacerbate the sustainability crisis because unawareness about relationships between dimensions of connectedness may lead to false predictions regarding policy implications.

Keywords

• agricultural intensification
• landscape sustainability science
• smallholder farming
• social-ecological systems