Participatory Forest Planning Research Articles

Residents' Perception of the Recreational Value of Forest Parks: A Case Study in Shanghai, China

Forest parks provide important recreational and tourism benefits to residents, so it is essential to know what residents' perceptions are regarding the recreational value of forest parks for participatory forest planning and management. This study investigated forest park recreational value in the physical, psychological, and social dimensions in Shanghai according to questionnaires completed by 658 respondents, and examined the relationships between recreational value and residents' social variables by multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). The results show the following: 1) The recreational value of forest parks is perceived as most important in the psychological dimension, while in the social dimension it is appreciated the least. 2) In terms of the differences in forest park recreational value in suburbs and rural areas, the social value in rural areas had significantly higher scores than in the suburbs, and the psychological value in suburbs is much higher than that in the rural areas. 3) Regarding the social variables which characterize residents in suburbs and rural areas, females and younger groups tended to assign higher scores to recreational value than males and older groups. Moreover, citizens with low education or low income also assigned higher scores to recreational value compared to more educated or higher-income residents. The results of this study reveal the recreational value characteristics of Shanghai forest parks in the three dimensions, which can provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of urban forest resources and contribute to reasonable planning and management.

The 17th Symposium on Systems Analysis in Forest Resources: An Introduction and Synthesis

Abstract The 17th Symposium on Systems Analysis in Forest Resources was held in Suquamish, Washington, United States on August 27–30, 2017. The goal of this international meeting was to bring together operations researchers, remote sensing scientists, and the government to facilitate the exchange and implementation of systems science in forestry and conservation. The essay that follows is a summary of the outcome of the Symposium, as well as an introduction to the eight research articles that were selected for publication in this Special Issue. Each of the papers was presented at the Symposium and has undergone rigorous peer review. The papers represent a broad disciplinary scope within system analysis ranging from forest economics and management science to remote sensing. The problems addressed within these disciplines also vary, from wildfire mitigation, supply-chain optimization, bioenergy logistics, and participatory forest planning to fuel assessment. The technical tools the authors applied to these problems are equally diverse: game theory, dynamic programming, stochastic optimization, multiobjective decision theory, structure-from-motion, and airborne laser scanning.

Integrating stakeholders' preferences in participatory forest planning: a pairwise comparison approach from Southern Italy

SUMMARY Throughout recent decades, in the context of forest planning and management there has been an increasing demand for stakeholders' and citizens' involvement in the decision-making process. The investigation of stakeholders’ preferences in participatory forest planning has become of paramount importance in understanding priorities and preventing conflicts. This paper is aimed at combining a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach, such as pairwise comparison and value measurement model, in order to assess stakeholders’ preferences for different goods and services provided by forests. The analysis of the results focused on assessing how pairwise comparison is able to heighten the information that can be obtained by the application of the value measurement model. The research was conducted within a framework of a Forest Landscape Management Plan (FLMP) in a case study in Southern Italy. 99 stakeholders were involved in the survey in order to analyze their preferences towards goods and serv...

Integrating stakeholders' preferences in participatory forest planning: a pairwise comparison approach from Southern Italy

Integrating stakeholders' preferences in participatory forest planning: a pairwise comparison approach from Southern Italy

Online streaming public participation in forest management planning

AbstractA new paradigm in forest management using a streaming input of public participation needs effective online solutions. The process should be real-time, secure, effective and efficient. People are expected to share their data and thoughts on forest management with forest owners for improving forest management and planning. The participatory approach supports communication within society and can be designed as an interactive web-based solution. Many pre-requisites have already been met and society is ready for a successful start of an interactive participatory forest planning system in Estonia. People use digital identification for various purposes and the state already maintains an online public forest register. Motivating people to participate in the planning process is always challenging yet important for the successful implementation of the system. The system should allow simulating the development and management of forest stands following the participatory input and using ecosystem models and economic calculations. The outputs from the system include management alternatives, risk assessments and financial reports. The system requires a reliable financial compensation scheme to ensure overall long-term stability of the system and agreements between interested persons or groups and forest owners.

Usefulness and perceived usefulness of Decision Support Systems (DSSs) in participatory forest planning: the final users’ point of view

Abstract: In recent decades, the focus of forestry Decision Support Systems (DSSs) has expanded to consider the social dimension of forestry and to support participatory decision-making. A large number of models and tools have become available to solve forest management planning problems. The Usefulness of a DSS depends on the range of tools that it incorporates, and many researches have been developed to evaluate DSSs using Usefulness as parameter. The assessment of Usefulness concerns the effectiveness of a DSS. Furthermore, most assessments take into account the degree of Perceived Usefulness, which is considered an indicator of the impact a system has on job performance. The present study focuses on the analysis of final users’ point of view on the Usefulness and Perceived Usefulness of DSSs in participatory forest planning. The research investigates how forest users’ characteristics and context influence their views on the potentialities of DSSs to enhance both the various phases of the participatory planning process (Usefulness) and job performance (Perceived Usefulness). The study is based on quantitative data collected through two questionnaires e-mailed to a sample of 150 DSSs end users. The questionnaires focused on Usefulness and on Perceived Usefulness topics, respectively. Results indicate that special attention must be given to motivating respondents with a clear explanation of the survey objectives when e-mailing questionnaires. Moreover, results show that, in general, respondents consider DSSs useful at each step of the participatory process, despite differences emerge among steps. The research also shows that respondents’ Perceived Usefulness of DSSs was higher before actually engaging with DSSs. Furthermore, the results highlight differences in Perceived Usefulness to improve job performance, suggesting that the use of DSSs may actually improve job performance more than expected. Specifically, results indicate that improving the technical descriptions of methodologies incorporated in a DSS may contribute to increasing the Perceived Usefulness. The information provided within this research contributes to the advancement of knowledge regarding the Usefulness of DSSs as perceived by forest stakeholders, which in turn supports the improvement of DSS architectures and the development of participatory processes in forest management planning.

Decision Support for Participatory Forest Planning Using AHP and TOPSIS

Long-term forest management planning often involves several stakeholders with conflicting objectives, creating a complex decision process. Multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) presents a promising framework for finding solutions in terms of suitable trade-offs among the objectives. However, many of the MCDA methods that have been implemented in forest management planning can only be used to compare and evaluate a limited number of management plans, which increases the risk that the most suitable plan is not included in the decision process. The aim of this study is to test whether the combination of two MCDA methods can facilitate the evaluation of a large number of strategic forest management plans in a situation with multiple objectives and several stakeholders. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to set weights for objectives based on stakeholder preferences and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to produce an overall ranking of alternatives. This approach was applied to a case study of the Vilhelmina municipality, northern Sweden. The results show that the combination of AHP and TOPSIS is easy to implement in participatory forest planning and takes advantage of the capacity of forest decision support systems to create a wide array of management plans. This increases the possibility that the most suitable plan for all stakeholders will be identified.

Social Network Analysis to Support Stakeholder Analysis in Participatory Forest Planning

In participatory forest planning, relevant stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. Stakeholder analysis is a crucial step in the participatory process in order to involve all groups of interests, increasing the legitimacy and transparency of the process. On the other hand, to gather an active stakeholder group that can communicate effectively, the number of key stakeholders should be restricted. This study aims to devise a nonsubjective method to identify and classify stakeholders in three categories (key, primary, and secondary stakeholders), taking into account the relationships among them (social network analysis). Stakeholders are classified according to the regular equivalence and betweenness centrality. The stakeholders' classification system is tested in two forest landscape management plans in Italy. Results show that the method is able to balance stakeholders' contributions and can be used to enhance the democratization of the decision-making process when power is unevenly distributed among the stakeholders.

The role of knowledge management tools in supporting sustainable forest management

Aim of study: Knowledge Management (KM) tools facilitate the implementation of knowledge processes by identifying, creating, structuring, and sharing knowledge through use of information technology in order to improve decision-making. In this contribution, we review the way in which KM tools and techniques are used in forest management, and categorize a selected set of them according to their contribution to support decision makers in the phases of problem identification, problem modelling, and problem solving.Material and Methods: Existing examples of cognitive mapping tools, web portals, workflow systems, best practices, and expert systems as well as intelligent agents are screened for their applicability and use in the context of decision support for sustainable forest management. Evidence from scientific literature and case studies is utilized to evaluate the contribution of the different KM tools to support problem identification, problem modelling, and problem solving.Main results: Intelligent agents, expert systems and cognitive maps support all phases of the forest planning process strongly. Web based tools have good potential to support participatory forest planning. Based on the needs of forest management decision support and the thus-far underutilized capabilities of KM tools it becomes evident that future decision analysis will have to consider the use of KM more intensively. Research highlights: As the problem-solving process is the vehicle for connecting both knowledge and decision making performance, the next generation of DSS will need to better encapsulate practices that enhance and promote knowledge management. Web based tools will substitute desktop applications by utilizing various model libraries on the internet.Keywords: best practices; cognitive mapping; expert systems; intelligent agents; web portals; workflow systems; Decision Support Systems.

The usefulness of Decision Support Systems in participatory forest planning: a comparison between Finland and Italy

Aim of study: Participation of stakeholders is considered an essential element in producing, at different spatial and temporal scales, forest plans accepted by local community and fulfilling the requirements of Sustainable Forest Management. Increasingly, computer-based decision support systems (DSS) and tools are being introduced to assist stakeholders and decision-makers in coping with the complexities inherent in participatory forest planning. The study aimed to investigate how useful the users and researchers see DSS tools and which opportunities they perceive DSS might carry for enhancing participatory forest planning in their field of activity.Area of study: 15 Italian and Finnish researchers and practitioners were interviewed.Material and Methods: Face-to-face structured interviews were used to collect opinions and experiences. Quantitative and qualitative information were analyzed to investigate differences between Italian and Finnish respondents as well as between researchers and practitionersMain results: Results showed that in Italy there has been more focus on forest-level and medium-term problems and the intelligence phase, while in Finland there has been more attention to region-level and long-term problems and equally intelligence, design, and choice phases of decision-making. Deviations probably reflect different planning contexts and culture, variability in experiences and expertise in DSS and in availability of suitable DSS.Research highlights: The study suggests to pay attention to evaluating the success criteria of participatory planning when preparing for the use of DSS and related tools in practical forest planning processes. Experience sharing is a key to reaching more successful use of DSS.Keywords: computer-based decision support; participatory processes; spatial scale; success criteria; temporal scale; users' perception.

Review. Supporting problem structuring with computer-based tools in participatory forest planning

Aim of study: This review presents the state-of-art of using computerized techniques for problem structuring (PS) in participatory forest planning. Frequency and modes of using different computerized tool types and their contribution for planning processes as well as critical observations are described, followed by recommendations on how to better integrate PS with the use of forest decision support systems.Area of study: The reviewed research cases are from Asia, Europe, North-America, Africa and Australia.Materials and methods: Via Scopus search and screening of abstracts, 32 research articles from years 2002–2011 were selected for review. Explicit and implicit evidence of using computerized tools for PS was recorded and assessed with content-driven qualitative analysis.Main results: GIS and forest-specific simulation tools were the most prevalent software types whereas cognitive modelling software and spreadsheet and calculation tools were less frequently used, followed by multi-criteria and interactive tools. The typical use type was to provide outputs of simulation–optimization or spatial analysis to negotiation situations or to compile summaries or illustrations afterwards; using software during group negotiation to foster interaction was observed only in a few cases.Research highlights: Expertise in both decision support systems and group learning is needed to better integrate PS and computerized decision analysis. From the knowledge management perspective, it is recommended to consider how the results of PS – e.g. conceptual models – could be stored into a problem perception database, and how PS and decision making could be streamlined by retrievals from such systems.Keywords: facilitated modeling; group negotiation; knowledge management; natural resource management; PSM; soft OR; stakeholders.

Multiple criteria decision analysis with consideration to place-specific values in participatory forest planning

The combination of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and participatory planning is an approach that has been applied in complex planning situations where multiple criteria of very different natures are considered, and several stakeholders or social groups are involved. The spatial character of forest planning problems adds further to the complexity, because a large number of forest stands are to be assigned different treatments at different points in time. In addition, experience from participatory forest planning indicates that stakeholders may think about the forest in terms of place-specific values rather than in forest-wide terms. The objective of this study was to present an approach for including place-specific values in MCDA-based participatory forest planning and illustrate the approach by a case study where the objective was to choose a multipurpose forest plan for an area of urban forest in northern Sweden. Stakeholder values were identified in interviews, and maps were used to capture place-specific spatial values. The nonspatial and nonplace-specific spatial values were formulated as criteria and used to build an objective hierarchy describing the decision situation. The place-specific spatial values were included in the creation of a map showing zones of different silvicultural management classes, which was used as the basis for creation of forest plan alternatives in the subsequent process. The approach seemed to work well for capturing place-specific values, and the study indicates that formalized methods for including and evaluating place-specific values in participatory forest planning processes should be developed and tested further.

Integrating multiple criteria decision analysis in participatory forest planning: Experience from a case study in northern Sweden

Forest planning in a participatory context often involves multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests. A promising approach for handling these complex situations is to integrate participatory planning and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The objective of this paper is to analyze strengths and weaknesses of such an integrated approach, focusing on how the use of MCDA has influenced the participatory process. The paper outlines a model for a participatory MCDA process with five steps: stakeholder analysis, structuring of the decision problem, generation of alternatives, elicitation of preferences, and ranking of alternatives. This model was applied in a case study of a planning process for the urban forest in Lycksele, Sweden. In interviews with stakeholders, criteria for four different social groups were identified. Stakeholders also identified specific areas important to them and explained what activities the areas were used for and the forest management they wished for there. Existing forest data were combined with information from interviews to create a map in which the urban forest was divided into zones of different management classes. Three alternative strategic forest plans were produced based on the zonal map. The stakeholders stated their preferences individually by the Analytic Hierarchy Process in inquiry forms and a ranking of alternatives and consistency ratios were determined for each stakeholder. Rankings of alternatives were aggregated; first, for each social group using the arithmetic mean, and then an overall aggregated ranking was calculated from the group rankings using the weighted arithmetic mean. The participatory MCDA process in Lycksele is assessed against five social goals: incorporating public values into decisions, improving the substantive quality of decisions, resolving conflict among competing interests, building trust in institutions, and educating and informing the public. The results and assessment of the case study support the integration of participatory planning and MCDA as a viable option for handling complex forest-management situations. Key issues related to the MCDA methodology that need to be explored further were identified: 1) the handling of place-specific criteria, 2) development of alternatives, 3) the aggregation of individual preferences into a common preference, and 4) application and evaluation of the integrated approach in real case studies.

Aggregation of preferences in participatory forest planning with multiple criteria: an application to the urban forest in Lycksele, Sweden

A promising approach for participatory forest management planning is the combination of multiple-criteria decision-making and group decision making. A crucial part of the participatory multiple-criteria decision-making process is the aggregation of individual stakeholder preferences into a collective preference. In this study, an approach based on the determination of cardinal compromise consensus was applied to a real case of participatory forest planning. Consensus matrices for four different social groups were established from stakeholder preferences in the form of pairwise comparisons of different sets of criteria. Criteria weights were obtained for each social group and used to determine rankings of 12 forest management plans. The rankings of the social groups were aggregated to determine consensus solutions for the choice of the best forest management plan from a collective perspective. In the procedure, control parameters and a distance metric were employed to find solutions that balance the points of view of the majority and the minority. This approach makes it possible to aggregate preferences of different stakeholders and produces a range of different solutions. Furthermore, certain values of the control parameters and the distance metric generate solutions that are promising to present in a participatory situation where stakeholders have very differing preferences.

Empirical study on voting power in participatory forest planning

Multicriteria decision support systems are applied in natural resource management in order to clarify the planning process for the stakeholders, to make all available information usable and all objectives manageable. Especially when the public is involved in planning, the decision support system should be easy to comprehend, transparent and fair. Social choice theory has recently been applied to group decision-making in natural resources management to accomplish these objectives. Although voting forms the basis of democracy, and is usually taken as a fair method, the influence of voters over the outcome may vary. It is also possible to vote strategically to improve the results from each stakeholder's point of view. This study examines the use of social choice theory in revealing stakeholders’ preferences in participatory forest planning, and the influence of different voters on the outcome. The positional voting rules examined were approval voting and Borda count, but both rules were slightly modified for the purposes of this study. The third rule examined, cumulative rule, resembles utilitarian voting rules. The voting rules were tested in a real participatory forest planning situation in eastern Lapland, Finland. All voting rules resulted in a different joint order of importance of the criteria. Yet, the preference orders produced had also a lot in common and the criteria could be divided into three quite distinct groups according to their importance. The influence of individual voters varied between the voting rules, and in each case different voter was the most influential.

L’approccio partecipativo nella pianificazione forestale

Abstract: The paper stresses the importance of public participation in natural resources planning and management, with particular concern for forest planning. The function of participation is defined, main methods and tools are reviewed, pointing out, for each of them, the possibility of application in participatory forest planning. Finally opportunities and limits of the participatory approach are taken into consideration particularly concerning the Italian situation.

Internet and teledemocracy in participatory planning of natural resources management

The widespread availability of Internet connections and the everyday aspect of the use of data networks provide many opportunities also for exploiting in planning and decision-making processes. The Internet can serve as a fast two-way channel of information. The possibility to use direct democracy via data networks so that the communication is interactive is referred to as teledemocracy. Teledemocracy is one way of adding citizens’ possibilities to participate in decision making. It enables, for instance, problems resulting from geographical insularity and long distances to be reduced in participatory planning and decision making, and the rapid registering of large numbers of opinions directly to computer memory. In this paper, an application of participatory forest planning based on information networks is presented as well as experiences obtained in developing and using the application. Also the topics of teledemocracy and the possibilities to use information networks more generally in participatory planning are discussed. It is concluded that there are good chances for applying teledemocracy in participatory forest planning, and rapid on-going development in interactive telecommunication technology continuously increases its future potential. However, taking the technical and social facts of today into account, teledemocracy cannot replace other forms and channels of public participation. There are plenty of challenges to overcome before using information networks as the only communication channel in any application of democracy. Participation from afar in participatory forest planning does not need to compete or do away with direct participation, but instead it can be used to support and supplement traditional participatory and participation channels.

Forest management and public perceptions — visual versus verbal information

Forest and landscape management measures have impacts on the amenity value of forests. People may have certain attitudes towards management, in particular near urban areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts on scenic beauty and recreational value of five different management practices: small clear cutting, thinning, removal of undergrowth, natural state, and traditionally managed cultural landscape. In order to compare visual perceptions with preconceptions, two evaluation methods, visual presentation (pictures produced by image-capture technology) and verbal questions were used. Scenic beauty and recreational value were assessed from slides in which management measures were presented by the pairwise comparison technique. The results indicate that scenic beauty and recreational preferences differ considerably from each other. In the study areas, small clear cuttings had the most positive effect on scenic beauty and natural state had most positive effect on recreational value. Furthermore, preconceptions concerning different silvicultural measures did not consistently correspond to perceptions based on the assessment of visual images. This fact supports the use of visual presentation methods in future preference studies as well as in participatory forest planning projects.