Forest groups as support to private forest owners in developing close-to-nature management

• Published in: Forest policy and economics Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 589 - 601
• Main Authors: Van Gossum, Peter, Luyssaert, Sebastiaan, Serbruyns, Inge, Mortier, Freddy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2005; Elsevier
• Series: Forest Policy and Economics
• Subjects: attitudes and opinions; communication (human); cooperatives; Ecological function; Education; environmental management; Focus group; forest management; forest owners; forest policy; forests; human behavior; interviews; landowners; multiple use forestry; Non-industrial private forest owners; Policy instrument; private forestry; questionnaires; silvicultural practices; sustainable forestry; theory of planned behavior; Theory of planned behaviour; Ecological function; Non-industrial private forest owners; Education; Focus group; Policy instrument; Theory of planned behaviour
• ISSN: 1389-9341; 1872-7050
• DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2003.10.003

To meet public expectations in densely populated regions, forest management should be multifunctional, not solely in public but also in private forests. Governments could induce private forest owners to manage their properties multifunctionally. ‘Traditional’ policy instruments do not achieve this objective sufficiently and therefore the potential of a new policy instrument was tested, namely the forest group or cooperative forest management, in implementing close-to-nature practices as part of multifunctional forest management. Data from three types of interviews were used: expert interviews ( N=95), individual NIPF owners’ interviews ( N=404) and NIPF owners’ focus groups ( N=11). It was found that stimulating close-to-nature management in private forests is more fruitful in a forest group than it would be outside the forest group. However, owners participating in a forest group still experience practical difficulties in implementing close-to-nature management practices. To trigger a change in forest management, the forest group should identify and focus on the practical difficulties that NIPF owner's experience. A forest group could, at least in part, remove these difficulties by means of: (1) personal contact between the coordinator of the forest group and the forest owners; (2) a periodical magazine providing information on technical, financial and legal aspects; (3) time-extensive practical-based education, (4) establishing local pilot-forests, managed by the Forest Service or conservation groups and (5) including economic as well as ecological and recreational aspects of forest management in all communications about close-to-nature management with the participants of a forest group.