Understanding environmental conflicts through cultural ecosystem services - the case of agroecosystems in Bulgaria

Cultural ecosystem services (CES) that people co-create with agroecosystems, such as place attachment and traditional knowledge, are declining in rural areas undergoing abrupt economic, environmental, and social changes. As a result, environmental conflicts arise. This article uses an ecosystem services framework to trace causes, outcomes, and responses to open and latent environmental conflicts in rural Bulgaria. Based on a correlation network analysis, the obtained results reveal the perceived importance of rural place identity and connectedness to nature as central and the most influenced CES in latent environmental conflicts responses (without visible mobilizations). As such, CES can be overlooked as important to local people in rural areas when environmental decisions are made. The study connects these findings with the notion of latency conflicts and argues how environmental conflicts over the agricultural land enclosure and rural marginalization are intertwined with non-material contributions – CES, unveiled through the network analysis.