The Forest Kingdom – with what values for the world? Climate change and gender equality in a contested forest policy context

Abstract

In this paper we explore the Swedish Government's vision for the forest sector: The Forest Kingdom -with values for the world, launched in 2011. We use the issues of climate change and gender equality to demonstrate implicit "values" that underpin this recent forest policy initiative. Drawing on new institutionalism, critical discourse theory and gender as an analytical category, we conceptualise values as important governance mechanisms mediated through discourse. We analyse key documents of the Forest Kingdom, along with press releases, governmental bills and reports and direct attention to problem representations and subject positions (identity offerings) produced. Our findings demonstrate how climate change is turned into a business opportunity and a means to secure growth and employment throughout Sweden. Women are represented as potential employees and active forest owners connected to the needs of the industry, rather than as active citizens involved in forest policy-making. Climate change and gender inequality are thereby displaced from the political to an economic sphere, linked to industrial needs, private forest ownership and profit rather than to public and collective decision-making. Values underpinning these representations are economic growth, individualism and faith in markets. The emphasis on production is not dissimilar from previous forest policies, which until 1993 primarily were oriented towards timber production.

SDG 5: Gender Equality – A Precondition for Sustainable Forestry

“…For example, Sweden's forest-sector policy on gender equality encourages women to take an active part in the forest sector and focuses on their role as economic agents benefitting the sector. While these overtures to individual women are important, the approach ignores the systemic reasons for women's absence from the sector (Holmgren and Arora-Jonsson 2015).…”

“…So far, practice has yet to bear this out. The forest sector continues to be dominated by a narrow group of actors -mostly men -despite increasing numbers of women forest owners (Holmgren and Arora-Jonsson 2015).…”

Competing discourses of the forest shape forest owners’ ideas about nature and biodiversity conservation

“…This means that we do not know how the discoursal environment affects conservation in private forests. Previous critical discourse analyses on forest issues are few in the global North and concentrated on gender issues (Lidestav and Sjölander 2007;Leipold 2014;Holmgren and Arora-Jonsson 2015) and participatory decision-making processes (Arnold et al 2012). Second, we examine conservation and nature issues in relation to all other meanings of the forest i.e.…”

Opportunities for Integrated Landscape Planning – the Broker, the Arena, the Tool

“…Simonsson et al 2015), the NIPF owners commonly engage consultancy services and contractors for the forestry operations, which leads to streamlining of forest management implementation (Hokajärvi et al 2009;Hujala et al 2009;Kindstrand et al 2008). Consequently, the magnitude and diversity of NIPF ownersare not reflected in a higher degree of diversification on estate and stand levels, due to dominant logic of the industrial forestry (Holmgren & Arora-Jonsson 2015).…”