Attitudes toward Conservation of the Transboundary Białowieża Forest among Ecotourism Businesses in Poland and Belarus

The Białowieża Forest is a contested transboundary forest massif in Poland and Belarus. Reflecting on transitions from value chains built sustained yield forestry to ecotourism, we pioneer documentation of how country-specific legacies shape preferences toward increased protection at the expense wood production. For both countries, used quantitative ordered logit model based questionnaires Polish Belarusian ecotourism business owners to, for first time, empirically study drivers their different values, qualitative data identify attitudes expansion protected areas Forest. Whilst supported area protection, opposite was true counterparts. proportion foreign guests co-varied with support protection. Conversely, local origin, size hospitality business, role foresters as customers decreased interest revealed that narratives against extended were spread but not conflict over conservation part involves actors stakeholders competing interests. A solution this remnant once widespread European temperate lowland becomes subject regional planning zoning perspective. Encouraging multiple evidence-based collaborative learning are key components.