A case of contested rural meanings? The association between conflicting beliefs about plantation forestry and representations of the rural landscape in Tasmania

© 2013 Dr. Nerida Margaret AndersonBeliefs about outcomes have been demonstrated to be an important factor in public acceptance of land uses. Understanding how contrasting beliefs are shaped and formed has implications for anticipating and managing land use conflict. However studies investigating community attitudes and perceptions of land uses are largely silent about underlying processes shaping beliefs, in particular why groups of individuals differ in their beliefs about the likely outcomes of contentious land uses. This study draws on literature within environmental psychology demonstrating the contested nature of socially constructed place meanings and social representations of the environment to examine the association between shared place meanings and beliefs about large scale plantation forestry in north-west Tasmania. In Australia the expansion of large scale plantation forestry on agricultural land has resulted in significant social conflict and opposition in some rural areas. Empirical studies demonstrate contrasting evaluations of acceptability to be associated with conflicting beliefs about the likely socio-economic and ecological outcomes of plantation forestry. Drawing on place theory and social representation theory it was proposed individually held beliefs about a contentious land use such as plantation forestry are shaped by social representations formed within groups of individuals sharing similar meanings attributed to the rural landscape. The conceptual framework for this study connects social knowledge theorised as being constructed in the process of social representation to individually held beliefs and attitudes about land uses. A two-stage multi-method approach was used to investigate the association between place meanings and representations of plantation forestry amongst residents of north-west Tasmania. In the first stage 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted using two photo-sorting tasks, a multiple sorting procedure and a Q-sort. Analysis of the interview data identified an association between shared place meanings and the way plantation forestry was represented. People attributing a range of lifestyle and amenity related meanings to the rural landscape were more likely to represent plantation forestry as posing an unacceptable risk. Participants attributing meanings more focused on production were likely to represent plantation forestry as both risk and benefit. Building on these findings, a large scale postal survey was used to investigate the association between beliefs about plantation forestry and representations of the rural landscape within a sample (n = 903) of residents of the study area. Analysis of the survey responses confirmed the association between conflicting beliefs about plantation forestry and contrasting representations of the rural landscape. Beliefs about the likely outcomes of plantation forestry were influenced by the degree to which the landscape was attributed meanings relating to amenity and the protection of trees and native vegetation as well as production. These findings demonstrate the utility of investigating socially shared place meanings as underlying and shaping individually held beliefs and attitudes towards rural land uses