Can Forest Management in Protected Areas Produce New Risk Situations? A Mixed-Motive Perspective from the Dadia-Soufli-Lefkimi Forest National Park, Greece

Abstract

Sustainable forest management is conceptualized as a management system which attempts to conciliate economic, ecological, and social dimensions (Maes et al., 2011; Vierikko et al., 2008). In this direction, sustainable forest management will have to foresee mechanisms and institutional arrangements for resolving trade-offs among multiple actors with conflicting interests (Bernues et al., 2005; Van Gossum et al., 2011). Decisionmaking schemes that involve a variety of interest groups might lead to increased complexity due to the societal demand for rational and transparent deliberation processes (Brechin et al., 2002; Wolfslehner & Seidl, 2010). A major challenge to sustainable forest management is to handle this complexity as well as confront uncertainty, which originates from changes in positions of stakeholders, scientific theories, and social institutions (Foster et al., 2010). One response to complexity is to employ adaptive management, which presupposes feedback mechanisms and reflexive learning processes as necessary prerequisites to cope with an undetermined future and the core issues of risk and uncertainty (Plummer & Fennell, 2009; Von Detten, 2011). However, social aspects of sustainability are frequently downplayed even in adaptive management configurations. Previous studies showed that conventional methods of social science research and widely implemented management policies might underestimate the social heterogeneity at the local level to a substantial extent (Berninger et al., 2010; Sugimura & Howard, 2008). This inadequate handling of the social context might be expressed in matters of environmental governance. For instance, when local communities are represented by spokespersons adhering to majorities, minority positions are excluded (Hovardas et al., 2009; Hovik et al., 2010). In the present paper we will approach the notion of sustainable forest management critically by examining the case study of the Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest National Park (DNP) in Greece. Our basic objective is to exemplify how forest management in a protected area can succeed in guaranteeing viable population sizes of endangered species but, at the same time, how it can eventuate in new risk situations regarding fire suppression and ecotourism development. Next, we will present a mixed-motive perspective formulated by local