Abstract:

Ecosystem services are all the benefits that humans derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem processes. The capacity of natural capital to provide these services that underpin human well-being is well known by the scientific community and is an essential content in elementary school curricula. Therefore, the ecosystem services approach is becoming increasingly relevant in scientific works and between managers and politicians.

In the case of forests, popular wisdom considers that the services provided by them have a high positive value and that forests are, in all circumstances, good for the environment, especially, for the water environment. They are seen as increasing rainfall and runoff, regulating flows, reducing erosion and flooding and improving water quality. However, the scientific evidences have questioned this public perception since the 19th century: forests do not significantly affect local precipitation, afforested areas show decreased runoff or the impacts of forests on the seasonal flow regime, erosion or water quality are highly dependent on site-specific processes making difficult to draw general conclusions.

In the case of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (norther Spain), there is also a rich and positive social imaginary around wooded areas, which, in 2020, occupied 54.6% of its territory, many of which are plantations of fast growing exotic species. This contribution aims to analyse which are the misconceptions about the relationship between forests and water-related ecosystem services among secondary educational collectives.

Survey respondents’ knowledge toward forest ecosystem services were anonymously explored by means of questions of diverse nature. They answered on the group they belong to, the place where they lived and the frequency of contact with forest. Their awareness on ecosystem services of forests was assessed according to the importance given to 18 different functions. In addition, in order to find out their perception on the relationship between forest and water, they were asked to state their degree of consensus about seven different ideas on the subject. In the case of these last two items, the Likert scale was used for evaluation.

The study was performed during the school year 2021-2022 and the sample comprised 469 first and last year compulsory secondary school students, being 12/13 (n=296) and 15/16 (n=173) years old, and 56 in-service and 36 pre-service secondary school science teachers.

The results show that about 80% of students and teachers (active and pre-service) value mistakenly the rain-generating function of forests and the function of guaranteeing water throughout the year as important or very important. Near or more than 70% of respondents also erroneously agree that forests improve water quality. This percentage is the highest in the case of active teachers and lowest for 12/13 years old students. Answers vary between groups and when considering contact frequency with forests, especially in younger students.

It can be concluded that there is a remarkable disparity between the perception of different members of the education system and the scientific community about the role of forests in relation to water. Consequently, there is a need to evolve the identified society's mental models towards scientific ones, ensuring the integration of research findings and the systemic views of the elements and processes involved, through effective teaching and learning programs.

Keywords:

Mental models, secondary school, ecosystem services, forest, water.