Enhancing informal interaction and knowledge co-construction among forest owners

Abstract

• Forest owners' own communities could complement the present expert-driven forestry extension.• Enhancing informal interaction between forest owners calls for sufficiently homogeneous reference groups and also new communication contexts.• New purposes of forest ownership and innovative forest management practices are suggested topics for novel owner communities.• Forest professionals may initiate these communities, but the continuity depends on the owners themselves. AbstractIt is a common concern that non-resident private forest owners are less able to make informed decisions regarding their forests. Moreover, the present guidance given by forest professionals is not reaching all owners. In this study, we suggest enhancing knowledge exchange among forest owners by increasing their mutual and informal interaction that could inspire them to co-construct new knowledge. The first objective is to identify present emerging activities that constitute knowledge exchange contexts (communities) for Finnish forest owners. The second objective is to discuss the challenges of current Finnish forest extension and their implications when introducing Communities of Practice as a complementary response to existing, yet insufficient, professional-led extension. Data consist of Finnish forest owners' and forest professionals' (n = 43) focus group interviews. The qualitative analysis was theoretically oriented followed by data-driven coding and grouping. According to the results, the role of expert-led encounters is strong in Finland and owners' opportunities for good mutual communication are rare. Informal communities exist mainly in the countryside among neighbouring owners and within families. To enhance knowledge sharing among owners, one needs to identify innovative topics and activities that would inspire owners to commit to their forest property and perform active silviculture. These communities would operate as creative learning environments allowing participation of different levels. When cultivating forest owners' communities it is important to consider actors' roles. Forest owners themselves are responsible for the functions and continuity of these communities, although forest professionals could also initiate new and sufficiently homogenous reference groups for the owners.

Knowledge use in the management of privately owned forests: a focus on decision support services for multi-objective forest use

“…The masculine culture of emphasising economic forestry may also hinder the realisation of female forest owner's nature-related objectives (Vainio and Paloniemi 2013) or alienate them from forestry if advisory services do not acknowledge them as equal actors in forestry, who nonetheless may have other goals besides timber production. The active participation and agency of women in forestry can be enhanced with gender-specific activities and peer-learning (Hamunen et al 2015), but more important is normalising women's status as forest owners and forest sector actors (Brandth et al 2004). Gender consciousness is important to consider in future research, to ensure the validity of results and comprehensive understanding of forest owner composition.…”

“…However, this discourse has been found to cause stress or pressure to comply with it regardless of whether a forest owner's objectives are non-monetary or a forest is only a minor part of a household's responsibilities (Takala et al 2017b), and hence it risks alienating forest owners from the services and forest management. Because alienated or indifferent forest owners are considered problematic for active forest management and hence meeting policy goals (Follo 2011;Hamunen et al 2015), it is important for forest professionals to recognise different owner motivations and adapt the decision support services accordingly (Takala et al 2017a). Owner-oriented planning and advisory services related to it are guided by forest owner needs, aims and resources (Hujala et al 2007;Hokajärvi et al 2009).…”

Práticas de compartilhamento de conhecimento em comunidades de prática multialocadas: uma revisão integrativa.

“…As conversações entre membros das comunidades estudadas são oportunizadas de diversas maneiras. Nas comunidades que se valem de encontro face a face, as práticas adotadas são os fóruns, conversas informais, trabalhos conjuntos para a solução de problemas comuns e também trabalhos em times de aprendizagem (Apostolou et al, 2004;Hamunen et al, 2015 impacto limitado, com os membros fazendo contato inicial por meio deles, e continuando por intermédio da troca de mensagens de e-mail (D.E. Topousis et al, 2012).…”

Exploring the future use of forests: perceptions from non-industrial private forest owners in Finland

“…Participants in the FGs also voiced a wish for more opportunities to engage in peer-to-peer 560 discussions concerning the potential of forest use and experiences. Knowledge exchange was 561 studied in a study by Hamunen et al (2015), which concluded that quite a few options for forest 562 owner gatherings already exist, such as basic courses for new forest owners or forest owner 563 clubs. Perhaps there is still a need to more effectively market such events, especially to new 564 forest owners.…”

“…Perhaps there is still a need to more effectively market such events, especially to new 564 forest owners. Hamunen et al (2015) also suggested more informal communication "circles" 565 between forest owners that could lead to the testing of more innovative forest management 566 practices. As a few participants in the FGs mentioned, previous studies have also shown that forest use, and conservation issues (Vainio and Paloniemi 2013).…”