National Forest Policy Research Articles

I boschi in Italia e le politiche forestali nazionali

In Italy, forests cover 12 million hectares, equivalent to 40% of the national territory, with a significant increase compared to previous decades. Italian forests are mainly located in hilly and mountainous areas, characterised by considerable fragmentation. The MASAF (Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovreignty and Forests) has divided Italian wooded areas into 19 ecoregions to facilitate reforestation with native species. The composition of Italian forests is highly diversified, with 117 tree species. However, these ecosystems are threatened by fires, pathogens, and climate change. Italian forest policies, historically conservationist, aim to protect and sustainably manage the country’s forests. The Serpieri Law of 1923 and other regulations ensure the protection of forests, which are among the most protected in Europe. However, the Italian wood industry largely depends on foreign imports due to fragmented ownership and strict regulations. The essay, starting with a description of Italian forests, provides a comprehensive overview of national forest policies up to the publication of the National Forestry Strategy in 2022, which outlines a long-term vision for the sustainable development of the sector and the enhancement of ecosystem services. It involves various stakeholders, from institutions to citizens, and promotes professional training and the responsible use of forest resources, integrating energy policies and a circular bioeconomy.

Forest policy in Nordic countries: Expert opinions on future needs, uncertainties, and recommendations

There are broad calls in national and international forest policy processes for basing decision-making on the best obtainable scientific knowledge. Simultaneously, there is also a need to accommodate plural values and objectives people and society in general have associated with forests. An essential step for building an evidence base that accommodates pluralistic understandings is to capture informant views on forest policies and the alternatives they offer to better prepare for future scenarios. This article draws on research experts’ views in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, gathered from interviews between February and May 2023. An existing gap to bridge is understanding to what extent such views differ or correlate across the study countries. By systematizing on the similarities and differences in opinions, we develop a synopsis of future needs and uncertainties in policies across the studied countries, concluding with recommendations for determining the use of Nordic forests. Despite divergence in personal views and uncertainties about the future, most respondents saw a need for inclusive policymaking, policy coherence and integration, and changes in forest management. We find that strengthening evidence-basis, stakeholder participation, adaptive governance, and integrative forest management are challenges for future policy making.

Policies for Equity in Access to Urban Green Space: A Spatial Perspective of the Chinese National Forest City Policy

The development of China’s high-density urbanisation process has made people aware of the widespread injustice in urban green space (UGS) as a means to improving residents’ well-being. The Chinese National Forest City (NFCC) policy is one of China’s construction models that aims to develop urban greening and reduce the inequality of residents’ well-being. This study used a combination of qualitative research and index quantification to explore the relationship between the spatial distribution of NFCCs and the factors affecting inequality in green space allocation and their impacts. The results of the study show that changes in indicators in NFCC policy reflect the national government’s decision-making orientation towards achieving environmental equity, and that the main factors affecting the unequal spatial distribution of NFCCs are highly correlated with inequality in UGS resources. This study analysed the NFCC policy from a new perspective and provides useful information for the development of national forest policy in order to ensure sufficient green space in China and the elimination of environmental inequity.

The effects of the EU’s forest-related policies on harvesting costs in Finland

The EU’s influence on national forest policies is growing, and the implementation of forest-related policies proposed by the Commission will affect the practice of forestry in Europe. For instance, the Nature Restoration Law sets concrete areal goals for restoring forest ecosystems and for conservation, the Deforestation Regulation requires meticulous tracking of wood’s origin, and the renewed Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) sets new criteria to sustainable forest biomass procurement. So far there have been no studies that have looked into the impacts from the economic and operational point of view. In this study, structural systems analysis was first performed to discover the relevant variables (and their functioning) associated with the roundwood harvesting operations and the operating environment. A scenario approach was then applied to capture the potential levels of implementation of the EU’s forest-related policies. Finally, using different scenarios (low-, moderate- and high-impact) and a systems analysis framework, the impact of alternative levels of implementation was quantified in terms of harvesting costs, measured in € m–3. The results indicate that with the low- and moderate-impact scenarios the harvesting costs would increase by less than 10% from the current levels in three different regions in Finland. Such an increase (less than 10%) could be tolerated over a period of a few years, but a sudden increase is likely to lead to challenges to the running of businesses. With the high-impact scenario the harvesting costs would increase by between 15% and 18%, depending on the region. This magnitude of increase (of approximately a sixth) corresponds to a severe change in the roundwood harvesting operations and operating environment.

From recreational to income-generating opportunities: assessment of public preferences for non-wood forest products in the Czech Republic.

With the alarming increase in dying trees and massive logging in the Czech forests due to bark beetle infestation, the collection of non-wood forest products, a beneficial recreational activity in the Czech Republic, is now being promoted as an alternative to wood provisioning services. This paper aims to present findings on the non-wood forest product preferences in the country as part of a baseline assessment for promoting the usage. This study relied on the 2019 national survey data of public preferences in collecting forest berries, mushrooms, honey, and medicinal herbs. K-means cluster analysis was employed to classify the respondents. A binary logistic regression with a conditional forward approach was employed to identify the potential predictors of the high preference for each non-wood forest product. Data from 1,050 online respondents were included, and two groups of respondents were clustered based on their preferences for the entire non-wood forest, i.e., higher and lower utilization. The regression analysis revealed that frequent forest visitors were the primary predictor of high utilization of all non-wood forest products (between 1.437 to 4.579 odd ratios), in addition to age, gender, and location of the forest property. By clustering the respondents based on the high and low preferences in utilizing non-wood forest products, the promotion of this service, from recreational to potential livelihood activities and economic benefits, can be better targeted, e.g., target customer, infrastructure development in the location with high preferences, scenarios based on the type of owners (municipal or private forest owners), which in accordance to the national forest policy and laws, and, at the same time, maintain the ecological stability.

The Impact of Illegal Logging on the State of the Rainforests of the Congo River Basin

In the modern world, one of the key problems on a planetary scale is the disappearance of tropical forests. In addition, the state of these forest ecosystems is of serious concern. The fight against the disappearance of tropical forests, especially due to illegal logging, is an integral part of the decisions taken to prevent negative climate impacts, and the most important task for the implementation of programs for the socio-economic development and protection of forests in Central Africa. The article describes the state of forests in the countries of the Congo River basin. The reasons for the degradation of forests and deforestation of the territory of this region are given, as well as the consequences of anthropogenic activities that have a huge direct and indirect impact on forest ecosystems. The lack of balance between economic, environmental and social components in the formation of national and subregional forest policy is reflected in legislation in this area. As a consequence, grounds for delinquency and illegal activities are created, and illegal logging continues in all countries of the Congo Basin. The authors analyzed the situation with illegal logging. It is shown that illegal logging not only has a devastating impact on forest ecosystems, but also deprives the state of income from the export of valuable timber and, thereby, destabilizes the situation in this subregion. The development of illegal activities is explained by the peculiarities of the forest management system, which has created a situation with relative impunity for offenders due to corruption and the imperfection of the regulatory framework. Solving the problem requires a deep reform of forest legislation and the development of a more effective system of economic measures to counter illegal logging of tropical forests in the countries of the Congo Basin.

Effects of Forestry Transformation on the Ecosystem Level of Biodiversity in Poland’s Forests

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the effects of Poland’s forest management evolution over the last 75 years on forest biodiversity at the ecosystem level. Forest biodiversity changes in the two politically and economically different eras (socialism and democracy) are interpreted based on four indicators used in assessments of forest stands (naturalness; habitat diversity; forest management system; forest stand age structure). In the era of socialism (1945–1989), there were dynamic increases in the area of semi-natural forests as well as in the proportion of the most fertile habitats, whilst the proportion of the poorest habitats decreased quite dynamically. Then, the clearcutting management system was regularly implemented, with adverse impacts on forest spatial structure diversity. The proportion of old/mature tree stands and the stand average age increased at relatively slow rates. In the era of democracy (1990–2020), there were comparatively more dynamic increases observed in the area of forests undisturbed by man, as well as in the proportions of mixed broadleaved and wetland forest habitats. At the same time, the proportion of old/mature stands and stand average age kept increasing at relatively fast rates. The area of forests managed with the use of the shelterwood system increased and the area of forest plantations substantially decreased. On the other hand, irrespective of the era under study, there occurred a noticeable not-so-favourable decreasing trend in the proportion of the youngest forest stands. All in all, during the analysed period of more than seven decades, the evolution of forest management practice implemented in Poland’s forests by State Forests National Forest Holding led to the restoration of/an increase in biodiversity at the ecosystem level. Yet, there have remained unsolved issues, as regards the following aspects: organisational (the assurance of further reconstruction of forest stands, and the restoration of water profiles), political (a lack of up-to-date national forest policy), and financial (the costs of protecting/restoring biodiversity vs. State Forests’ self-financing), as well as conceptual (old-growth stands in managed forests, and controversy over clearcutting) and natural/anthropogenic (climate change, and the eutrophication of forest habitats) issues. The solutions may require measures outside the limits of Poland’s forestry, if not far beyond national borders.

Alignment of National Forest Policy Frameworks with the EU Timber Regulation Requirements: Insights from Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

The Western Balkans represent a priority area for improving forest legality monitoring systems in line with the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR). However, research on EUTR implementation in Western Balkan countries is still sporadic with a limited geographical scope; therefore, the preparedness of forestry sector actors for the EUTR in the region is largely unknown. The main objective of this study is to determine to what extent the forest policy frameworks of Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) are aligned with the EUTR requirements. To achieve this aim, we applied a qualitative content analysis of policy documents identified via an expert-based approach. Our results show that both countries have well-developed policy frameworks addressing illegal logging and preventing illegal activities in forestry, especially through dedicated action plans. Key actors in both countries are public, including the ministries responsible for forestry, public forest enterprises, and forestry inspectorates. The forestry sector in Montenegro is facing significant changes due to the termination of forest concessions and the reorganization of the management of state forests, including forest certification. The Republic of Srpska has relatively well-established institutional bodies for EUTR implementation but, in some cases, insufficient exchange of information and cooperation among them. Our findings indicate that the forestry sectors in Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska (as well as in Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia, as per previous research) are dynamic, undergoing various changes, so there is room for improvement in terms of capacities (e.g., human, technological, infrastructural), legal responsibilities, and information access and availability. With an increasing focus on “deforestation-free” commodities within the EU and global policy arena, a new, more demanding, and broader regulation is expected at the EU level, replacing the EUTR. The incoming regulation will expand existing EUTR requirements, likely posing severe challenges to many EU member countries. This could be even more challenging for countries with less developed or advanced systems to enforce legality requirements, including Western Balkan countries.

Identifying and prioritising traditional knowledge-related strategies within Turkish forest policy: the perspective of forest managers

Forests are an essential part of the lifestyle and income of forest villagers in Türkiye. This interaction between forests and rural society offers considerable potential for the generation of traditional knowledge (TK). However, most of this knowledge is in danger of extinction. This study pursued qualitative and quantitative research methods: a SWOT analysis was created by utilising the related components of current national forest policy documents and sought to create basic strategies which were then prioritised using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) rating approach. The findings showed that TK is tied directly to the main objectives of forestry policy. Social strategies were viewed as the highest priority, emphasising the improvement of local living standards and increasing local awareness and loyalty to their regions. These strategies were followed by organisational and legislation-policy-related issues. However, the close scores of the strategies proved that all are interdependent and have relations with each other, and a holistic approach is required.

Investigation of the Indian Forest sector’s performance during the last three and half decades

About seventy years ago, independent India’s first National Forest Policy, 1952 clearly mentioned covering one-third of the country’s geographical area under forest cover, but going by the trend of growth in forest cover during the past three and half decades, it is evident that this target is not going to be fulfilled in the near future. The quality of the country’s forests in terms of average productivity, per capita availability, growing stock, and forest type/composition have also declined during the last 35 years as evident from available research articles/reports through secondary literature survey. A multi-pronged strategy giving more emphasis to agroforestry, adopting an innovative result-based Telangana state afforestation model, creating sustainable green funds by different states, and restoring degraded forest lands by strengthening participatory forest management has been suggested in the paper to achieve forest and tree cover target and for improving forest quality.

Effectiveness of policy instrument mixes for forest conservation in the tropics – Stakeholder perceptions from Ecuador, the Philippines and Zambia

Effective policy instruments are needed to halt or even reverse ongoing tropical deforestation. In this context, the increased focus on incentive-based instruments on the one hand and the unchanged support for classical command and control measures on the other, call for smart policy mixes. We aim to identify the effectiveness of policy instruments and of policy mixes based on stakeholder perceptions. We also aim to analyze stakeholders’ power in order to appraise the relevance of different instruments on national forest policy agendas. Our study implements related research based on more than 100 key informant interviews along the pantropical country-context of Ecuador, Philippines and Zambia. Principal component analysis is applied to identify forest policy mixes, and social network analysis to quantify stakeholder power. Our results show that despite recent discussions and support for incentive-based mechanisms like REDD+ and market-based solutions, regulative instruments are equally advocated. There is an astonishing congruence in the support of national stakeholders for specific policy instruments like reforestation subsidies, protected areas, and measures to combat illegal logging. But despite this high congruence, the policy instruments need to be implemented in country-specific combinations, because we find diverging stakeholder perceptions on national policy mixes. These diverging perceptions require good governance within the related decision and implementation processes. Whereas NGOs in general have a stronger focus on regulatory instruments, enterprises show more support for economic measures. International organizations have the most balanced perception in this respect, followed by national governments. National governments are the most powerful stakeholders. Their power is required to coordinate decision processes and ensure implementation. The almost equally powerful role of international organizations poses questions of ownership. We present a detailed analysis of policy mixes and recommendations for each of the three countries.

Future wood demands and ecosystem services trade-offs: A policy analysis in Norway

To mitigate climate change, several European countries have launched policies to promote the development of a renewable resource-based bioeconomy. These bioeconomy strategies plan to use renewable biological resources, which will increase timber and biomass demands and will potentially conflict with multiple other ecosystem services provided by forests. In addition, these forest ecosystem services (FES) are also influenced by other, different, policy strategies, causing a potential mismatch in proposed management solutions for achieving the different policy goals. We evaluated how Norwegian forests can meet the projected wood and biomass demands from the international market for achieving mitigation targets and at the same time meet nationally determined targets for other FES. Using data from the Norwegian national forest inventory (NFI) we simulated the development of Norwegian forests under different management regimes and defined different forest policy scenarios, according to the most relevant forest policies in Norway: national forest policy (NFS), biodiversity policy (BIOS), and bioeconomy policy (BIES). Finally, through multi-objective optimization, we identified the combination of management regimes matching best with each policy scenario. The results for all scenarios indicated that Norway will be able to satisfy wood demands of up to 17 million m3 in 2093. However, the policy objectives for FES under each scenario caused substantial differences in terms of the management regimes selected. We observed that BIES and NFS resulted in very similar forest management programs in Norway, with a dominance of extensive management regimes. In BIOS there was an increase of set aside areas and continuous cover forestry, which made it more compatible with biodiversity indicators. We also found multiple synergies and trade-offs between the FES, likely influenced by the definition of the policy targets at the national scale.

Ecosystem services in recreational forests of Turkey: analysis of national forest policies and scientific studies

This study assesses to what extent ecosystem services are considered when managing three different types of recreational forests in Turkey. Although the number of scientific studies on ecosystem services provided by forests has increased in recent years, the number of cases defining ecosystem services and elaborating them in the forestry legislation or plans in Turkey is limited. This concept is underused in Turkey due to a lack of attention paid to the global agenda and scientific studies at international and national levels. It was found that protection forests in Turkey included services from all ecosystem services except habitat or supporting services. Nature parks also have services from three categories but none from provisioning services. Finally, urban forests include services from only two categories: regulating and cultural services. Ecosystem services must be considered both in city and forest planning. Even though the management of forests is under the sole responsibility of the General Directorate of Forestry, the municipalities should consider it as one of the main stakeholders in city planning. Finally, scientific studies on forest ecosystem services for healthy cities and citizens should be increased, and results should be implemented.

Measurement uncertainty in a national forest inventory: results from the northern region of the USA

Statistical confidence in estimates of timber volume, carbon storage, and other forest attributes depends, in part, on the uncertainty in field measurements. Surprisingly, measurement uncertainty is rarely reported, even though national forest inventories routinely repeat field measurements for quality assurance. We compared measurements made by field crews and quality assurance crews in the Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the U.S. Forest Service, using data from 2790 plots and 51 740 trees and saplings across the 24 states of the Northern Region. We characterized uncertainty in 12 national core tree-level variables; seven tree crown variables used in forest health monitoring; three variables describing seedlings; and 11 variables describing the site, such as elevation, slope, and distance from a road. Discrepancies in measurement were generally small but were higher for some variables requiring judgment, such as tree class, decay class, and cause of mortality. When scaled up to states, forest types, or the region, uncertainties in basal area, timber volume, and aboveground biomass were negligible. Understanding all sources of uncertainty is important to designing forest monitoring systems, managing the conduct of the inventory, and assessing the uncertainty of forest attributes required for making regional and national forest policy decisions.

Pathway and driving forces to complete forest transition in inner Mongolia of China

China has experienced an extensive forest transition. However, the biophysical conditions and socio-economic effects in different regions are quite different in such a large country. Few studies on the forest transition of China have focused on how forest transitions occur and what process of forest transition in quality experience at the regional level. This study conducts a regional analysis on forest transition in Inner Mongolia from the dual perspectives of forest quantity and quality using data from 1980 to 2018. Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) modeling combining the sensitivity analysis method is used to comprehensively analyze potential socio-economic factors that may drive the forest transition observed in Inner Mongolia. The results show that the changing trend of the forest area in Inner Mongolia shaped a “N" curve, while the standing forest stock showed a general slow-growing trend. It is important to note that Inner Mongolia achieved a complete forest transition around 1993. The forest transition witnessed in Inner Mongolia mainly followed two pathways: the “economic development pathway” and the “national forest policy pathway.” The results suggest that the forest area in Inner Mongolia is changing into an “N" shaped curve with the number of live standing trees in the forests generally growing slowly. The results further suggest that, rather than only analyzing the spatial expansion of forest area, ecological construction is also an important determinant of future forest quality.

Unlocking Romania’s Forest-Based Bioeconomy Potential: Knowledge-Action-Gaps and the Way Forward

As national governments continue developing bioeconomy strategies, the forest-based sector becomes increasingly important. Romania’s forest sector can be at the heart of a sustainable circular-bioeconomy transition. However, despite recently launching its national forest strategy, the country has yet to produce a comprehensive bioeconomy strategy where the forest sector is properly acknowledged and integrated. Here, we discuss the potential opportunities and challenges for developing a national circular–bioeconomy strategy that builds around the forest-based sector. Methodologically, we build on qualitative insights from two foresight workshops conducted with 16 international experts. Conceptually, we draw on recent forest-based circular-bioeconomy literature, which we synthesize and use to complement the insights provided by workshop participants. Three main key findings emerged from this analysis: (i) Several knowledge gaps related to biomass availability, carbon storage, biodiversity status, ecosystem services, or governance arrangements persist. (ii) A circular forest bioeconomy must focus on regional and rural development, including both traditional wood use, as well as new wood-based products. Finally, (iii) the transition to a forest-based bioeconomy requires substantial investments in areas such as forest infrastructure, education, and labor force. Forward-looking policies can address these challenges by fostering new ways of thinking, collaborating and researching the bioeconomy. We anticipate our article to be a starting point for more informed discussions around the role of forests and the forest-based sector in Romania’s future bioeconomy strategy. Furthermore, as work around the implementation of the national forest strategy has recently commenced, the ideas discussed here could help decision-makers better integrate and coordinate national and European forest policies with bioeconomy ambitions.

State environmental policy on the issue of legal regulation of fire safety in the forests of Ukraine

The purpose of the research was to analyze, at the theoretical level, the state policy of organizational and legal nature on strategic issues of ensuring fire safety in Ukrainian forests. To achieve this goal, general scientific and special scientific methods of cognition were used, in particular, dialectical, logical-formal, analysis and synthesis, structural-systemic, legal-comparative, legal-formal, prognostic. The study emphasizes that the lack of approved strategic documents for the development of the forestry sector prevents the formation of a projected public policy and, therefore, creates an unresolved organizational and legal structure of governance in forestry relations in general and reduces the effectiveness of fire safety in forests. It is concluded that among the priorities for achieving the task of effective fire safety in forests are identified factors that are primarily the formation of a single interagency consensus vision of the development of the forestry sector, reflected in the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Forest Resources and, consequently, a system of rules and principles basis of the national forest policy.

The Slovak forest policy arrangement: Post-1989 residues and changes

After 1989, Central and Eastern European countries with planned economies launched a process of transformation. In the Slovak forest policy, the main changes have been in the structure of forest ownership, increasing the share of governance mechanisms within the decision-making, and the organization of the sector. The aim of the paper is to analyse the current Slovak forest policy arrangement in relation to the socialistic political history, via the Policy Arrangement Approach. The analysis is based on literature search and consultations with forest policy experts. In total, 55 scientific publications were analysed. Subsequently, the results were consulted with four national forest policy experts. Despite the three decades-lasting transformation process, in Slovakia, forest policy is characterised by a strong influence of governmental actors, centralisation, and prevailing hierarchical use of policy instruments. Nature protection actors enter the policy arena, for instance, to expand protected areas. The top-down planning has an impact on the forest owners’ performance of rights to use their forests. Non-governmental actors attempt to enforce their interests through participation mechanisms, inter-ministerial commenting procedures, and voluntary instruments. Public opinion is turning towards nature protection and forestry as such has come under pressure with its traditionalist approach.

Forests as a public and free good :

The need of the hour for any country is to protect and preserve its forest for combating the climate crisis. Although India is nowhere close to achieving its target of ensuring that 33 percent of its geographical area is under forest cover as laid in its National Forest Policy, 1988, it does not appear to be making much effort towards it. The recent proposed amendments in the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 run the risk of making forests a contested market commodity among private players and big corporations like railways and highway authorities. It further runs the risk of deteriorating the status of forests, taking away the element of public good, and putting it in the category of private goods and thus making it excludable and rivalrous.

Impacts of forest conservation on local agricultural labor supply: Evidence from the Indonesian forest moratorium

Tropical forest conservation is critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining global ecosystems. Understanding the channels through which conservation affects agricultural activities and livelihoods in these regions is key to designing effective policies and promoting sustainable development. To this end, we use labor supply data from Indonesia in 2007 and 2015 combined with a matching strategy to estimate the impacts of a national forest conservation policy, the forest moratorium, on local agricultural labor. Consistent with the predictions of our theoretical model, we find robust empirical evidence that the moratorium increased local agricultural employment and slowed structural transformation away from the agricultural sector. We provide corresponding evidence of decreased household expenditure due to the moratorium. Despite the moratorium, we find significant deforestation and forest degradation within the boundaries of the moratorium-targeted areas, suggesting that increases in local agricultural employment may partly dampen the conservation policy's effectiveness. Our work offers new insights into evaluating existing conservation policies and designing future policies for Indonesia and other resource-dependent economies that face similar challenges in balancing economic growth with conservation.