New modes of governance in Bavaria's alpine forests: The ‘Mountain Forest Initiative’ at work

Abstract

There is much talk about the need for stakeholder participation and inter-sectoral coordination in forest policy and management. But there is limited understanding about forest agencies' role in the adoption of new governance modes and their contribution to policy delivery. By drawing on a qualitative implementation study of Bavaria's Mountain Forest Initiative in locally-operating forest agencies, the present paper addresses these gaps. The government wants them to establish collaborative arrangements with various stakeholders to facilitate measures for adaptation to climate change in private forests. The cross-case comparison provides detailed empirical insights into distinct sets of activities for making the initiative ‘work’. Stakeholder participation gains a firm basis at the local level if forest agencies develop interest in and generate ownership of prospects for collaborative planning, and tailor these to their needs. The study suggests, however, that involvement of local stakeholders in forest planning is not necessarily instrumental for delivery of effective policies, as reliance on the local level entails the risk that the broader picture of initial policy goals gets lost.