https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/949 Academic institutes 2026-03-10T06:53:06Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3071 National mapping and assessment of ecosystem services projects in Europe - Participants' experiences, state of the art and lessons learned Vari, Agnes; Adamescu, Cristian Mihai; Balzan, Mario; Gocheva, Kremena; Goetzl, Martin; Grunewald, Karsten; Inacio, Miguel; Linder, Madli; Obiang-Ndong, Gregory; Pereira, Paulo; Santos-Martin, Fernando; Sieber, Ina; Stepniewska, Malgorzata; Tanacs, Eszter; Termansen, Mette; Tromeur, Eric; Vačkářová, Davina Elena; Czucz, Balint Backed by the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and 2030, numerous 'Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services' (MAES) projects have been completed in recent years in the member states of the European Union, with substantial results and insights accumulated. The experience from the different approaches is a valuable source of information for developing assessment processes further, especially with regard to their uptake into policy and more recently, into ecosystem accounting. Systematic approaches towards best practices and lessons learned from national MAES projects are yet lacking. This study presents the results of a survey conducted with participants of national MAES projects overviewing 13 European MAES processes. Focus hereby is put on the types of methods used, the assessed ecosystem services, and the perceived challenges and advancements. All MAES projects assessed ecosystem services at several levels of the ecosystem service cascade (69% at least three levels), using a diverse set of data sources and methods (with 4.7 types of methods on average). More accessible data was used more frequently (e.g., statistical and literature data being the most popular). Challenges regarding policy uptake, synthesizing results, and data gaps or reliability were perceived as the most severe. Insufficient evaluation of uncertainty was seen as a major critical point, and emphasized as crucial for uptake and implementation. Moving towards accounting for ES in the frame of environmental -economic accounts, considering uncertainties of ES assessments should be even more important. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3070 Exploring Motivations for Cannabis Use in Casual Leisure: a German Perspective Ghvanidze, Sophie; Ščasný, Milan; Kang, Soo K.; Hanf, Jon H. Cannabis is a popular leisure activity in many cultures, especially in North America and Europe, where it is commonly used for socializing and entertainment. A recent German study employed the Marijuana Motives Measure to survey young adults, analyzing four motivational factors in the context of casual leisure. The research aimed to understand the reasons behind adults' daily cannabis use, its link to consumption frequency, and situations. The findings highlight cannabis use for hedonic pleasure, relaxation, and enhancing social experiences. Individuals driven by self-focused motives, seeking relaxation and hedonic pleasure, tend to use it more frequently, while other-focused motives, such as sociable conversation, are associated with less frequent and occasional consumption. The study further revealed that people who consume cannabis for self-focused motives typically do so alone or with someone at home, whereas those who use it for other-focused motives, such as sociable conversation, tend to do so in social settings. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3068 The climate change stage of change measure: vehicle choice experiment Waygood, E. O. D.; Wang, Bobin; Daziano, Ricardo A.; Patterson, Zachary; Braun Kohlová, Markéta Various measures have been proposed and validated to assess environmental motivation and explain peoples' consumer behavior. However, most of the measures are rather complex, sometimes comprising dozens of items. In order to overcome the associated response burden, the goal of our research is to validate a much simpler measure of environmental motivation, namely the measure of Climate Change-Stage of Change. To do so we analyze data from a discrete choice experiment in which drivers decide to purchase a car with different levels of CO2 emissions and we also measure their environmental motivation with three alternative measures. The results show that environmental motivation assessed with Climate Change-Stage of Change explains the choices in the experiment as well as with more complex measures. Our findings have substantial implications for researchers as they may be able to assess climate-relevant motivation - a significant factor for many consumer choices - with a single question. 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14178/3069 Bottled or Tap Water? Factors Explaining Consumption and Measures to Promote Tap Water Zvěřinová, Iva; Ščasný, Milan; Otáhal, Jan The production and consumption of plastic bottled water have several negative environmental impacts worldwide. To identify the barriers and motivations for drinking tap and bottled water, we conducted a nationally representative questionnaire survey among 3411 respondents in the Czech Republic in 2022. People aged 18-34 are moderate consumers of bottled water and very frequent consumers of tap water. Bottled water consumption tends to be less frequent among people with a higher education, while tap water consumption is less frequent among people with lower incomes. The most important factors that explain the frequency of drinking bottled and tap water are taste perception, health concerns and habit. Health concerns about tap water and the unpleasant taste of tap water increase the consumption of bottled water. People with a strong habit of drinking tap water are less likely to consume bottled water. The constructs from the theory of planned behaviour were statistically significant. The results can guide decision-makers in promoting tap water to consumers. To encourage tap water drinking, we suggest measures to increase the availability of tap water in public places in conjunction with campaigns targeting the taste and health perception, as well as the habit, of drinking tap water. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z