Expert consultation Forest and human wellbeing in “…”

In our project “Healthy Forest Regions: Supporting Healthy Forest ecosystems for human well-being in forest Regions” we elaborate on the concept of Healthy Forest Regions (HFR) in Europe. The region xyz is one of our project target areas. In order to define a HFR we want to investigate important traits of HFR and how they contribute towards general functionality of the given HFR as well as towards regional human wellbeing.

Your answers to the following set of questions will help us assess the importance of forest ecosystems and their health on human wellbeing in the region xyz. Your responses will also contribute towards finding the trade-offs between reducing human impact, safeguarding forest health for human wellbeing, and acknowledging human dependency on the forests. In addition, your answers will aid towards better understanding of HFR from the perspective of the local professionals contributing towards improving the understanding of ecosystem services in the region xyz.

When answering the questions, please bear in mind your professional, not personal, view, knowledge, and experience on the given matter. Additionally, please refer to an area within the predefined region that you feel comfortable providing information for. Please define this area below.

Thank you for filling in this survey, your responses are very valuable.

In this survey we refer to human wellbeing as: 'a positive state experienced by individuals and societies. Similar to health, it is a resource for daily life and is determined by social, economic and environmental conditions. Well-being encompasses quality of life and the ability of people and societies to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose. Focusing on well-being supports the tracking of the equitable distribution of resources, overall thriving and sustainability. A society’s well-being can be determined by the extent to which it is resilient, builds capacity for action, and is prepared to transcend challenges (Glossary of terms, 2021).https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/350161/9789240038349-eng.pdf?sequence=1