Chapter 14 The Role of Information, Knowledge, and Acceptance During Landowner Participation in the Natura 2000 Designations: The Cases of Otepää and Kõnnumaa, Estonia Monika Suškeviˇ cs and Mart Külvik Abstract Across the European Union, the Natura 2000 network is among the most important measures for preventing the biological degradation of landscapes. However, land-use conflicts in several member states show that the designation of Natura 2000 areas has not been an effective process, foremost due to insuffi- cient public and stakeholder involvement. This chapter presents an investigation of landowner involvement during the Natura 2000 designations in Estonia, focusing on two aspects: first, the role of information and knowledge in the participatory process; and second, the acceptance of Natura 2000 among landowners. Insights gained from two case studies in northern Estonia (Kõnnumaa) and southern Estonia (Otepää) indicate that despite extensive communication processes during designa- tions, many landowners lacked basic knowledge on Natura 2000 issues and on consultation procedure at the beginning of involvement processes and afterwards. Our results additionally suggest that addressing the needs, expectations and knowl- edge claims of different stakeholders within participatory processes is a necessary precondition for gained acceptance in biodiversity-related landscape planning. Keywords Natura 2000 · Site selections and designations · Knowledge · Acceptance · Landowner participation M. Suškeviˇ cs (B ) Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, EE-51014 Tartu, Estonia e-mail: monika.suskevics@emu.ee 275 M. Jones, M. Stenseke (eds.), The European Landscape Convention, Landscape Series 13, DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9932-7_14, C  Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011