Uncovering the Latent Preferences of Slovenia’s Private Forest Owners in the Context of Enhancing Forest Ecosystem Services through a Hypothetical Scheme

Abstract

Background and objectives: Successful policy implementation relies on understanding stakeholders’ willingness to contribute to policy goals. The EU Green Deal, with strategies on forests, biodiversity, and the bioeconomy, also depends on the performance of the forestry sector, including a significant portion of privately owned forests. Materials and methods: We conducted a nationwide survey among a sample of 341 private forest owners in Slovenia (total population of 424,086). The online questionnaire had three sections: (1) knowledge and priorities regarding ecosystem services and the bioeconomy, (2) a discrete choice experiment for eliciting preferences concerning the implementation of activities supporting strategic goals originating from EU Green Deal policies, and (3) socio-economic data and future forest management objectives. Results: The results indicated heterogeneity in preferences for performing activities on private forest lands to enhance specific forest ES that contribute to policy goals. More than half of the respondents (57.6%) exhibited a reluctance to implement activities and were skeptical of higher compensation payments, whereas the rest expressed an inclination towards changing their forest management. Conclusions: Slovenia’s private forest owners appear to be heterogeneous in their willingness to participate in a hypothetical ES enhancement scheme that could contribute to some EU Green Deal goals. Policymakers must recognize intrinsic motives and social norms that affect the willingness of forest owners to be engaged to increase the acceptance of solutions.