Implementing Participatory Processes in Forestry Training Using Social Network Analysis Techniques

Simone Blanc,Livio Bioglio,Filippo Brun,Federico Lingua,Ruggero Pensa,Angela Mosso

doi:10.3390/f9080463

Abstract

Public participation has become an important driver in increasing public acceptance of policy decisions, especially in the forestry sector, where conflicting interests among the actors are frequent. Stakeholder Analysis, complemented by Social Network Analysis techniques, was used to support the participatory process and to understand the complex relationships and the strong interactions among actors. This study identifies the forestry training sector stakeholders in the Western Italian Alps and describes their characteristics and priorities, in relation to training activities on entrepreneurial topics for forestry loggers. The hierarchy among actors has been identified, highlighting their respective roles and influence in decision-making processes. A lack of mutual communication among different and well-separated categories of actors has been identified, while good connections between stakeholders, operating in different territories, despite the presence of administrative and logistical barriers, have been observed. Training is a topic involving actors with different roles and interests. Nevertheless, all actors consider training about how to improve yields of forest operations and how to assess investments, particularly in innovative machinery, to be crucially important and conducive to a better comprehension of the wood supply chain and the enhancement of the raw material.

Highlights

Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the idea that the route towards the sustainable exploitation of forestry resources should follow a participatory approach, even in the forest planning phase, has been openly acknowledged [1,2]
As stated by Ananda and Herath [7], environmental policy cannot be separated from public participation in the decision-making process, there is a lack of proven methods that explicitly integrate the beliefs of stakeholders
The effort shown by political institutions in this area, in setting up training courses for forestry workers, has increased in recent years, thanks to continuous investment in this sector, with over

Summary

Introduction

Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the idea that the route towards the sustainable exploitation of forestry resources should follow a participatory approach, even in the forest planning phase, has been openly acknowledged [1,2]. Public participation is expected to produce better plans by fostering the exchange of information and views between stakeholders [3]. The new EU forest strategy [4] set out how the participation of different stakeholders has become an important driver in increasing the public acceptance of policy decisions and in creating an inclusive platform for constructive discussions [5]. This participative process is especially important in the forestry sector, which includes a multitude of conflicting interests among the actors [6].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion