Towards sustainable forest management\xa0in the European Union through polycentric forest governance and an\xa0integrated landscape approach

Helga Pülzl,Per Angelstam,Marius Lazdinis

doi:10.1007/s10980-019-00864-1

Abstract

ContextAchieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process, and securing sustainability and resilience of human societies as well as the natural environment are wicked problems. Realising sustainable forest management (SFM) policy in local landscapes is one example.ObjectivesUsing the European Union as a case study for the implementation of SFM policy across multiple governance levels in different contexts, we discuss the benefits of adopting an integrated landscape approach with place and space, partnership and sustainability as three pillars.MethodsWe map the institutional frameworks for implementing SFM policy within all EU member states. Next, we analyse whether or not there is EU-level forest governance, and how power is distributed among EU, member state and operational levels.ResultsMechanisms to steer a centralized forest governance approach towards SFM in the EU are marginal. Instead, there is a polycentric forest governance with 90 national and sub-national governments, which create and implement own and EU-wide SFM-related policies. Additionally, both among and within regional governance units there is a large variation in governance arrangements linked to land ownership at the operational level.ConclusionsTo effectively translate EU-wide SFM and SFM-related policies into action in local landscapes, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are different land ownership structures, landscape histories and alternative value chains based on multiple ecosystem services. Therefore regionally adapted landscape approaches engaging multiple stakeholders and actors through evidence-based landscape governance and stewardship towards sustainable forest landscape management are needed. Model Forest, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research platform and Biosphere Reserve are three of many examples.

Highlights

The dominating natural potential vegetation type of the European Union (EU) is forest (Bohn et al 2000)
There is a polycentric forest governance with 90 national and sub-national governments, which create and implement own and EU-wide SFMrelated policies. Both among and within regional governance units there is a large variation in governance arrangements linked to land ownership at the operational level
To effectively translate EU-wide sustainable forest management (SFM) and SFM-related policies into action in local landscapes, it is crucial to acknowledge that there are different land ownership structures, landscape histories and alternative value chains based on multiple ecosystem services

Summary

Objectives

All levels of government and all relevant departments plus local stakeholders Bottom-up policy, local strategies. Biosphere Reserve (Batisse 1982), Ecomuseum (Davis 2011), Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research platform (Singh et al 2013; Angelstam et al 2019b), Model Forest (IMFN 2008; Bonnell 2012) and Living Lab (Dell’Era and Landoni 2014) are five examples that are consistent with a landscape approach (World Forestry Congress 2009; Axelsson et al 2011; Sayer et al 2013, 2015; Angelstam and Elbakidze 2017) Such concepts, and initiatives to realise them on the ground in actual landscapes, reflect the transition towards area-based rural development programmes (e.g., Giessen 2010; OECD 2017, Table 2). Collaborative learning among multiple landscape approach concepts, and initiatives applying those in landscapes on the ground, needs to be encouraged by effective bridging of barriers in terms of competition between organizations and concepts that focus only on their own version of what an integrated landscape approach means

Results

Conclusions

Introduction