Management and Social Problems Linked to the Human Use of European Urban and Suburban Forests

The Use of Simple Language in Informal Forest Education as a Key to the Correct Interpretation of Sustainable Forest Management—The Experience of Poland

In view of the increasing conflict between society and forest management and a significant increase in the social functions of the forest, informal forest education is becoming increasingly important. In Poland, it is carried out mainly based on the field educational infrastructure, which consists, among other things, of forest educational paths equipped with educational boards. The paper presents the results of research on the assessment of the availability of texts presented on educational boards. The study was conducted on the basis of photographs of educational boards located on six educational paths in the forests of the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Lublin. Using the Google Lans application, the main text from each board was read and then analyzed in the Promovolt software program to determine the level of text accessibility using the Fog Index. The results were then compared with the opinion of respondents using an online survey, which indicated that most of the boards are written in language that is either simple, understandable to middle/high school students, or quite difficult but understandable to first-degree students. On the other hand, the respondents generally indicated the level of accessibility of the text to be easier because, in their opinion, it is enough to have a primary education to understand the content of the boards. This observation leads to the conclusion that in order for education to be more effective, simple language should be used, which can be understood by the less educated members of the population.

Social Preferences of Young Adults Regarding Urban Forest Recreation Management in Warsaw, Poland

The paper presents results of questionnaire research conducted to determine social preferences regarding leisure in Warsaw municipal forests (WMF) (Poland). The preferences pertained to frequency of visits and willingness to pay for recreational infrastructure in a forest depending on its appearance, level of development, and the respondent’s income. The data were processed using statistical analysis (ANOVA Friedman test, U Mann–Whitney test, logistic regression). The results show that the higher the development level of a forest, the more often young people choose it for leisure. Willingness to pay for a forest depends on its development level, with respondents more willing to fund forests with a higher development level. No such correlation with the respondents’ income was found. Preferences regarding the selection of a specific type of forest for leisure were dependent on per capita income of the respondents only in the case of forests at a lower level of development. A forest’s preference level affected the willingness to pay for it and varied depending on the development level.

Can Allotment Gardens (AGs) Be Considered an Example of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) Based on the Use of Historical Green Infrastructure?

The term nature-based solutions (NBSs) is understood as a multidisciplinary umbrella concept that includes aspects such as green/blue infrastructure and urban gardens and forests. However, the important question here is what features of ecosystem-based approaches are essential for them to be considered nature-based? This study aims to answer this question by analysing the potential of allotment gardens (AGs) to be considered as NBSs. To do so, the possibilities and obstacles regarding a Polish case study were analysed based on the following six research questions: (1) How do AGs use blue and green infrastructure? (2) What problem(s) do AGs solve today? (3) What kind of benefits do AGs provide? (4) Do AGs possess implementation and management capabilities? (5) Can AGs be treated as economically efficient? (6) What are the advantages of AGs versus other possible solution(s)? With regards to obstacles, the study has identified: institutional barriers, irregular distribution of benefits, and deficiencies in economic efficiency. Nevertheless, AGs together with other historical urban green/blue infrastructure may be regarded as a kind of unsophisticated NBS, the effectiveness of which is limited. These solutions may be created as independent structures or (historical) green/blue infrastructure may be enlarged, fitted out, linked, and improved to implement NBS projects.