The determinants of adapting forest management practices to climate change: Lessons from a survey of French private forest owners

Abstract

Climate change seriously impacts forest ecosystems. In order to maintain a healthy and sustainable forest cover, adaptation strategies should be implemented. This article proposes to deepen our understanding of the decision-making process of private forest owners in terms of adaptation decisions towards climate change. In particular, we question whether or not French private forest owners have already implemented adaptation strategies and if yes, we identify the determinants of this decision. We focus on the identification of the determinants of the probability to adapt and on the determinants of adopting each strategy separately (early harvest, thinning, irregular silviculture). A survey of more than 900 French private forest owners was conducted for the purpose of collecting both (1) objective variables: characteristics of the owners and the property; and (2) subjective variables: perception of climate change and impacts. The results reveal that both types of variables explain the adaptation decision. In addition, we show that the determinants are different from one adaptation strategy to another, meaning that the adaptation decision should not be thought of in general but, instead, strategy-by-strategy.