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

Abstract

9The transformation of the forest sector towards a bioeconomy calls for finding new sources of 10 competitive advantage for the whole sector to retain its future viability. Non-industrial private 11 forest (NIPF) owners are an important group of actors in the Finnish forest-based sector, as they 12 supply 80% of industrial roundwood and control numerous other tangible and intangible forest-13 based ecosystem services. Our study analyzes forest owner views on the future use of forests 14in Finland, their perceptions on the evolving sectorial interlinkages and the position of the forest 15 sector now and in the future bioeconomy. The data were collected in two phases: through 16 telephone interviews of forest owners (n=278) and four focus group discussions (n=17), and 17 were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The interviews showed that forest owners 18 consider the highest potential for strengthening the sector towards bioeconomy to come from 19 collaboration with energy and construction businesses. During the focus group phase we 20 identified new possibilities founded on forest-based recreational services, cooperation with 21 nature-based tourism, and in increasing value-added wood products. In total, forest owners as 22 a high-involvement group emphasized future value creation to be based upon forest ecosystem 23 services and in diversifying the utilization of forests beyond the dominant raw material -driven 24 mindset. 25

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

“…Takala et al (2017b) found discourses that challenge the timber production and ethos of good forest management among forest owners. Häyrinen et al (2017) reported forest owners being frustrated with the services only focusing on intensive timber production. The legitimacy of clear cuttings has been loudly questioned both by forest owners and by the wider society (Valkeapää 2014;Hölttä et al 2018).…”

“…To maintain the social acceptability of forest utilisation for timber production and to enable the involvement of forest owners with multiple objectives in timber sales, the multiple-use principle of forests should materialise from political rhetoric into action (Takala et al 2017a). The future viability of the forest sector has been connected to the ability to fulfil the expectations concerning multi-objective forest uses (Häyrinen et al 2017). As current forest practices called multi-objective forestry have not been capable of halting the loss of biodiversity in production forests, the credibility of the sustainability of Finnish forestry has been questioned.…”

“…The forest sector is considered to have a broad range of opportunities for renewing its businesses. However, capitalising these opportunities requires radical new thinking and a mindset change for the entire forest sector, including forest policy formulation (Häyrinen et al 2017).…”

Research trends: Forest ownership in multiple perspectives

“…Joint action or organisation of forest owners has long been proposed as a remedy to the hindrances related to fragmented or small-scale forest ownership. Forest owners' associations are a heterogeneous type of organisation, but have various common objectives, including increased forest owners political power (Mattila and Roos, 2014;Sarvasova et al, 2015), improved market position (Häyrinen et al 2017;Kronholm 2016;Posavec et al, 2011), development of business activities (Glück et al 2010;Pollumäe et al 2016;Rauch, 2007;Schraml, 2005;Weiss et al, 2012), support for cooperation among forest owners and forest authorities (Aurenhammer et al 2018;Nonic et al 2011), and obtaining financial incentives (Jársky et al, 2014;Mendes et al, 2011;Živojinović et al, 2015).…”

Servicios ambientales en los tiempos de la bioeconomía forestal. Retos y oportunidades en el monte mediterráneo

“…La industria forestal, especialmente en países del norte de Europa, está iniciando cambios en los modelos de negocio, a través de la integración de productos como biocombustibles (Huang et al 2010;Olesen et al, 2016), nuevos materiales de construcción basados en productos leñosos (Häyrinen et al 2017), o telas, plásticos y productos químicos basados en celulosa, lignina, resinas o ceras de origen forestal (Babu et al 2013;Sjostrom, 2013;Scarlat et al 2015) entre otros. Estas nuevas demandas podrían suponer un incremento en la movilización de biomasa y en la intensidad de manejo de los bosques europeos (Framstad et al, 2009) o la conversión de hábitats de alto valor ambiental en tierras productivas (Pedroli et al, 2013); cuyas políticas se han orientado, en las últimas dos décadas, más bien a favorecer su conservación y multifuncionalidad.…”