IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwkie/318200.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Carbon dioxide removal through ecosystem restoration: Public perceptions and political participation

Author

Listed:
  • Kuhn, Annegret
  • Merk, Christine
  • Wunsch, Andrea

Abstract

We compare public perceptions of restoring different ecosystems to increase CO 2 uptake in Germany, through focus groups and a general population survey. Among focus group participants forests were highly popular, peatlands evoked negative associations, and seagrass was largely unknown. Nevertheless, the restoration of all ecosystems was viewed positively. We contrast these reactions to those of survey respondents who had not received additional information on restoration. They voiced narrower, less diverse opinions centering around afforestation. Further, focus group participants preferred expert-led restoration decisions, citing low trust in politicians’ technical competence. Contrary to common policy recommendations, also beyond the German context, participants did not emphasize the need of citizen participation and were not strongly concerned about land use conflicts or compensation of affected user groups. The results imply that the public underestimates the political complexity of negotiation processes in ecosystem governance, which are becoming increasingly relevant in the international policy landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuhn, Annegret & Merk, Christine & Wunsch, Andrea, 2025. "Carbon dioxide removal through ecosystem restoration: Public perceptions and political participation," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 318200, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:318200
    DOI: 10.1007/s13280-024-02063-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/318200/1/s13280-024-02063-y%281%29.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13280-024-02063-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaus Glenk & Julia Martin-Ortega, 2018. "The economics of peatland restoration," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 345-362, October.
    2. Marilou Jobin & Michael Siegrist, 2020. "Support for the Deployment of Climate Engineering: A Comparison of Ten Different Technologies," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(5), pages 1058-1078, May.
    3. Ariane Wenger & Michael Stauffacher & Irina Dallo, 2021. "Public perception and acceptance of negative emission technologies – framing effects in Switzerland," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Bertram, Christine & Merk, Christine, 2020. "Public Perceptions of Ocean-Based Carbon Dioxide Removal: The Nature-Engineering Divide?," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 294186, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Merk, Christine & Liebe, Ulf & Meyerhoff, Jürgen & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2023. "German citizens’ preference for domestic carbon dioxide removal by afforestation is incompatible with national removal potential," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 270884, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    6. Sara Nawaz & Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent & Terre Satterfield, 2023. "Public evaluations of four approaches to ocean-based carbon dioxide removal," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 379-394, March.
    7. Hynes, Stephen & Norton, Danny & Corless, Rebecca, 2014. "Investigating societal attitudes towards the marine environment of Ireland," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 57-65.
    8. Merk, Christine & Grunau, Jonas & Riekhof, Marie-Catherine & Rickels, Wilfried, 2022. "The need for local governance of global commons: The example of blue carbon ecosystems," Kiel Working Papers 2201, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), revised 2022.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuhn, Annegret & Merk, Christine & Wunsch, Andrea, 2024. "Carbon dioxide removal through ecosystem restoration: Public perceptions and political participation," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 306554, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    2. Sean Low & Livia Fritz & Chad M. Baum & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2024. "Public perceptions on carbon removal from focus groups in 22 countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Benjamin K. Sovacool & Chad M. Baum & Sean Low, 2022. "Determining our climate policy future: expert opinions about negative emissions and solar radiation management pathways," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 27(8), pages 1-50, December.
    4. Chad M. Baum & Livia Fritz & Sean Low & Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2024. "Public perceptions and support of climate intervention technologies across the Global North and Global South," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Hilary Byerly Flint & Paul Cada & Patricia A. Champ & Jamie Gomez & Danny Margoles & James R. Meldrum & Hannah Brenkert-Smith, 2022. "You vs. us: framing adaptation behavior in terms of private or social benefits," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Fikru, Mahelet G., 2025. "Policy preference for a net zero carbon economy: Results from a US national survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Elspeth Spence & Emily Cox & Nick Pidgeon, 2021. "Exploring cross-national public support for the use of enhanced weathering as a land-based carbon dioxide removal strategy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Juutinen, Artti & Tolvanen, Anne & Saarimaa, Miia & Ojanen, Paavo & Sarkkola, Sakari & Ahtikoski, Anssi & Haikarainen, Soili & Karhu, Jouni & Haara, Arto & Nieminen, Mika & Penttilä, Timo & Nousiainen, 2020. "Cost-effective land-use options of drained peatlands– integrated biophysical-economic modeling approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    9. Zawojska, Ewa & Gastineau, Pascal & Mahieu, Pierre-Alexandre & Cheze, Benoit & Paris, Anthony, 2021. "Measuring policy consequentiality perceptions in stated preference surveys," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313977, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Guo, Kaiyuan & Huang, Chendan & Zhang, Zhenjun & Diaz Paiz, Ana Yamileth & Chen, Weiming, 2024. "The impact of new energy industry on environmental and economic benefits: Evidence from China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    11. Cuicui Feng & Guanqiong Ye & Jiangning Zeng & Jian Zeng & Qutu Jiang & Liuyue He & Yaowen Zhang & Zhenci Xu, 2023. "Sustainably developing global blue carbon for climate change mitigation and economic benefits through international cooperation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Peter King, 2021. "Willingness-to-pay for precautionary control of microplastics; a comparison of hybrid choice models," Department of Economics Working Papers 82/21, University of Bath, Department of Economics.
    13. Martin Greco-Coppi & Carina Hofmann & Diethelm Walter & Jochen Ströhle & Bernd Epple, 2023. "Negative CO2 emissions in the lime production using an indirectly heated carbonate looping process," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(6), pages 1-32, August.
    14. Eleiton, Nalumu Elizabeth & Corless, Rebecca. & Hynes, Stephen, 2015. "Public Perceptions of Marine Environmental Issues: A Review," Working Papers 262590, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    15. Shannan K. Sweet & Jonathon P. Schuldt & Johannes Lehmann & Deborah A. Bossio & Dominic Woolf, 2021. "Perceptions of naturalness predict US public support for Soil Carbon Storage as a climate solution," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 1-15, May.
    16. Naomi S. Foley & Rebecca Corless & Marta Escapa & Frances Fahy & Javier & Fernandez-Macho & Susana Gabriel & Pilar Gonzalez & Stephen Hynes1 & Regis Kalaydjian & Susana Moreira & Kieran Moylan & Arant, 2014. "MARNET: An Economic Data Framework for the European Atlantic Arc," Working Papers 262566, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    17. Blasiak, Robert & Yagi, Nobuyuki & Kurokura, Hisashi & Ichikawa, Kaoru & Wakita, Kazumi & Mori, Aimee, 2015. "Marine ecosystem services: Perceptions of indispensability and pathways to engaging citizens in their sustainable use," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 155-163.
    18. Glenk, Klaus & Meyerhoff, Jürgen & Akaichi, Faical & Martin-Ortega, Julia, 2019. "Revisiting cost vector effects in discrete choice experiments," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 135-155.
    19. Klaus Glenk & Robert J. Johnston & Jürgen Meyerhoff & Julian Sagebiel, 2020. "Spatial Dimensions of Stated Preference Valuation in Environmental and Resource Economics: Methods, Trends and Challenges," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(2), pages 215-242, February.
    20. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Baum, Chad M. & Low, Sean, 2023. "Beyond climate stabilization: Exploring the perceived sociotechnical co-impacts of carbon removal and solar geoengineering," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:318200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwkiede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.