Service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry in the structural shifts of forest ownership: challenging the “old” and shaping the “new”

ABSTRACT

Sweden is one of the most forested countries in Europe, and it has one of the highest shares of productive forest. Production in forestry is largely reliant on the private non-industrial forest owners, who own half of the forest land. As in many countries, however, forest ownership is changing towards a higher extent of urban, female or non-forestry-background owners. This poses a challenge for the forestry services sector, mainly forest owners’ associations and companies, but also broadly the sector at large. By exploring the sales and marketing processes, this paper analyses the service logics and strategies of Swedish forestry under changing forest ownership, drawing on an interview study covering all the large actors in the Swedish forestry sector. The study illustrates an increased focus of forestry organizations on services from a strategic and managerial perspective, in customer-oriented relationship development and in value creation and sales processes, specifically in order to manage “new” forest owners and the demand of forest industries. The results highlight the domination of service logics associated with timber production and the challenges for the service market and the provision of diversified services to forest owners.     

Challenges to responsible forest governance in Ghana and its implications for professional education

As forestry transitions from hierarchical steering by governments to more multi-actor forms of governance, it has become necessary to understand key challenges to improve forest governance and its implications for educating forestry professionals. This paper therefore investigates these challenges and explores capabilities forestry professionals require to overcome them. We employed mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions and a survey with forestry sector stakeholders. Qualitative data were analysed by clustering related issues into dominant themes and quantitative data by using Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Key challenges identified relate to political culture, particularly the power position of some elites in forest management and a culture of corruption. Non-compliance and poor enforcement of rules were also highlighted. To overcome these challenges, key capabilities forestry professionals require include leadership, authority and autonomy, alongside the capacity to initiate and manage change. We conclude that to improve forest governance in Ghana, beyond having state-of-the-art technical knowledge, professional education should place more emphasis on developing non-technical capabilities. We recommend an integrated approach to professional education that simultaneously develops knowledge, skills, attitudes and mind-sets necessary for producing graduates who can effectively address governance challenges.     

Tropical Forestry

An overview of the forestry sector in Costa Rica was undertaken to determine whether the existing management practices of timber resources hold the potential to meet the country's demands for timber in the immediate decades to come, and to identify changes that might be needed in the management of forested lands. To meet these goals, we examined the present status and potential future contribution of the two newest forest sectors: the management of natural forest and plantation forestry. Rcsults indicate that the present management of Costa Rica's timber resources does not hold the potential to meet the country's demands for timber for more than the next ten years without severe loss of its forests. Substantial progress is occurring, but at an insufficient rate. Moreover, despite the considerable headway made in conservation in recent years, the rate of deforestation remains high. A number of factors limit advancement in natural forest management and plantation forestry, both of which have the potential to deaccelerate deforestation. In natural forest management, constraints are the rate at which forests are being brought under management, lack of budgetary provisions for fiscal incentives to private owners who alone cannot be expected to bear the cost of benefits of natural forest management that are national or even global in their distribution, and the weak infrastructure, extension services and research support to meet management goals. In the case of plantation forestry, the capability of this sector to produce commercial timber is not known. Moreover, inadequate management and extension services together with the misuse of the incentive system by private owners is likely to limit the potential of plantations. Institutional constraints include outdated legal and bureaucratic framework, market interventions, absence of clear policy toward natural forest management and plantation forestry, poor investment in infrastructure, extension and research support, and inadequate interaction among various agencies responsible for the development of the forestry sector. Such institutional constraints have allowed the proliferation of disincentives against the development of a sustainable timber sector. If the Costa Rican government's objective is to encourage sustainable forestry, it must first clearly articulate the policy and then create the appropriate legal, economic and institutional framework for implementation of the policy. Costa Rica, with its enlightened public administration system, vast technical and scientific knowledge about its forest ecosystem and extensive assistance from international organizations, must succeed, otherwise prospects for sustainable forestry in thc less fortunate tropical countries would be bleak.     

Forestry in bioeconomy – smart green growth for the humankind

This paper draws on the European Union's Bioeconomy Action Plan (BAP) to clarify the notion “bioeconomy” and examine how it relates to the forest sector and its current challenges. The interpretation is linked to a broader context of climate and energy policies and the ideas of green economy and green growth. It is shown that, despite its good intentions, BAP fails to link bioeconomy to the core idea of green economy and the sources of economic growth. It hardly discusses climate policies and entirely omits the land-use aspects between agriculture and forestry that are important for climate policies. An equally serious shortcoming is that BAP very vaguely recognizes the role and nature of the forest sector as a high-tech biomass utilizing sector and omits its current challenge to renew the product matrix from forest biomass as a response to the decreasing demand for paper. An overview of the topical issues in forest sector shows that it has and will have a great role in bioeconomy as a high-tech and high value-added sector producing all traditional products, bioenergy, and new forest products.     

中亚五国林业发展及国际合作展望

目前中亚国家多数处于经济转型和管理方式转变的关键时期, 正积极推进林业向可持续管理方式转变, 但重要林业计划和活动实施效果欠佳, 森林退化严重, 盗伐盗猎现象普遍, 也正努力寻求改进和对外合作。文中介绍了包括哈萨克斯坦、塔吉克斯坦、土库曼斯坦、乌兹别克斯坦和吉尔吉斯斯坦在内的中亚5国森林资源和管理现状、林业法律政策、林业发展面临的共同问题, 提出了我国与中亚5国开展林业合作的领域和方式, 以期为我国与中亚地区开展林业合作提供重要信息支撑。     

应对与发展——全球气候变化背景下的加拿大林业

气候变化使全球森林资源面临新的、更为复杂的挑战。作为重要的林业大国,加拿大在气候变化中将会受到更大的影响。正确地应对这些挑战、保证森林资源良好地适应气候变化并实现可持续发展,是目前加拿大林业面临的主题。文中以全球气候变化为背景,介绍加拿大林业情况,包括森林资源、森林的价值体现以及林业产业发展,进而说明气候变化对加拿大森林产生的影响以及加拿大为应对气候变化在林业方面所采取的相关措施。     

莫桑比克林业发展现状及中莫两国林业合作探析

莫桑比克森林资源丰富,是中国在非洲的主要热带木材及原木来源地。在利于两国共同发展的基础上,中莫两国林业建立了广泛的合作。由于莫桑比克毁林和森林质量下降的问题,中国企业林业投资又面临国际上的质疑和批评,迫切需要改进两国林业合作与发展方式和策略。文中介绍了莫桑比克森林资源、林业管理体系、森林采伐、木材加工、流通与贸易等发展现状,提出了促进中莫两国林业国际合作可持续发展的建议。     

Owner mapping for forest scenario modelling — A Lithuanian case study

Ample research on private forest owners (PFOs) has established high heterogeneity in owners' objectives, motivations and management decisions. Such heterogeneity is, however, rarely taken into account in forest scenario modelling. This study, in contrast, conducts a detailed forest owner mapping that feeds into simulations of ecosystem services (ES) under alternative future scenarios. First, we identify four private forest owner types (FOT) – Forest Businessmen, Household Foresters, Passive Forest Lovers, and Ad Hoc Owners through in-depth interviews and qualitative analyses on a case study area in western Lithuania. Next, each forest estate and forest compartment is assigned a FOT by combining the property registry and forest characteristics with opinions of two types of local experts: state forest managers and inspectors from the State Forest Service. Third, a set of forest management (FM) programmes is specified using field interviews and desktop research, FM records, and expert judgement for each forest compartment. Finally, ES provision is projected using a behavioural matrix combining management styles of FOTs with details of FM programmes. We simulate the dynamics of profits from forestry activities, accumulated carbon in live biomass and tree species diversity under a reference scenario without substantial changes; and a policy intervention scenario. The study demonstrates that treating forest owners as a homogenous group overestimates profits from timber and underestimates the provision of the other analysed ES, potentially misinforming policy decisions.     

中国与非洲林业产能合作的实施突破口

中-非林业产能合作落实“一带一路”倡议的关键,在于找到实施的突破口。我国林业企业“走出去”到非洲实现超越发展的关键也在于找准突破口。找准突破口的关键在于合乎逻辑地确定非洲林业产业内众多细分行业产品发展的重点领域,而确定其重点领域的根本,在于准确把握非洲林业发展的内在规律。文中基于非洲林业资源禀赋现状,回顾全球价值链理论及其在林业上的运用,提出一个新视角构建了“全景式林业产业价值链分析框架”,以此探索原木、锯材、板材和浆纸4类重点细分行业在全球、中国和非洲加工增值过程中的关键结构和发展规律;预测出其中的发展优先序列,并以FAO林产品统计数据对其加以检验。     

蒙古国林业发展现状和中蒙林业合作展望

蒙古森林资源匮乏, 但却在防止土地退化、保持水土、提供野生动物栖息地等方面发挥着重要作用。蒙古制定了森林法规、政策和规划体系,但林业政策优先领域主要集中在防治森林火灾和病虫害及鼓励木材加工等方面。林业发展战略则偏重技术,缺乏对林业根本问题的关键性分析。林业立法将大部分森林管理职责下放至地方政府,但因其缺乏资金和技术人员,各项林业政策和规划难以得到有效执行,森林资源被迅速开发。文中介绍了蒙古林业资源和管理现状、林业政策规划及林业发展面临的问题,提出了我国与蒙古开展林业合作的领域和方式,以期为两国林业合作提供重要信息支撑。     

Cooperation in private forestry of post-soviet system: Forest owners’ cooperatives in Lithuania

The current state of cooperation in private forestry in Lithuania is examined, with a focus on the analysis of objectives, organisational structure and the ways forest owners’ cooperatives operate. A postal survey has been used as a main research instrument, the questionnaire consisting of a series of multiplechoice close-ended questions. This paper provides insights into the state forest enterprises and other private companies operating in the private forestry sector, and places forest owners’ cooperatives in a broader context of the private forestry sector. A typical forest owner’s cooperative in Lithuania has up to 10 members and about 20 clients to whom services are provided. The leaders of cooperatives indicate that the optimal number of clients using their services should not exceed 40. The main stated objectives of cooperatives are the provision of services to their members under the most attractive conditions, uniting members, and earning a profit for the members. These activities of cooperatives revolve around timber harvesting and trade. It is concluded that the process of cooperation of private forest owners in Lithuania is rather slow, although positive development can be observed.     

巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾和斐济林业发展比较与分析

热带森林生态系统具有重要的生态系统服务功能和价值,然而人类社会发展正影响着其完整性和稳定性。以巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾和斐济为代表的太平洋岛国拥有丰富的热带森林资源,但森林资源的过度采伐和土地资源的不合理利用正在导致热带森林面积急剧减少。文中介绍了巴布亚新几内亚、菲律宾和斐济这3个太平洋岛国的森林资源现状,着重分析和比较了这些国家的森林资源现状、林业管理体制、政策与机构,以及林业生产与贸易状况,以期为在“一带一路”倡议下我国开拓太平洋岛国地区国际市场提供重要信息支撑。     

Non-industrial Private Forestry Service Markets in a Flux: Results from a Qualitative Analysis on Finland

Previous research on European forestry service markets is scarce and mainly focused on analysing external market environment and modelling of timber selling behaviour of non-industrial forest owners (NIPFs). In this study, we aim to create a broader understanding about business perspectives of forestry service markets covering the whole array of market and institutional based services offered to the NIPFs in case of Finland. The more specific empirical objective of the paper is to describe market drivers and underlying challenges in existing and potential service business models based on the concepts of service-dominant logic and dynamic capabilities. Using a qualitative approach and 22 thematic expert interviews in service organisations, we strive to analyse the drivers and opportunities for creating new services within the NIPF market and also build insight in possible barriers for new service value creation. According to our results, the ongoing structural changes offer new opportunities to change traditional mindsets and search for new types of offerings that support the renewal of this traditional forestry sector. As one of the major barriers for new innovations we identified the dominant role of established organisations securing their current positions, mainly driven by the forest industry timber procurement needs. From a managerial perspective, the changing institutional base of the current service organisations may facilitate new innovative business start-ups in addition to enhancing the strategic capabilities and competitiveness of the established firms in Finnish forestry sector.     

Democratising timber: An assessment of Myanmar's emerging ‘Forest Law Enforcement,Governance and Trade’ (FLEGT) process

Amidst Myanmar (Burma)'s political reform process the forest sector remains an important area awaiting democratisation. Forests historically covered over 50% of the countries' land area, and have been of major importance for both local livelihoods, the national economy and ‘ecosystem services’ such as biodiversity and catchment hydrology. The export timber trade has however played a decisive role in determining forest sector policy and indeed has exerted a significant influence on overall national politics since the colonial era began and continuing to the present day. Under the post-independence military dictatorship the timber trade involved ever more unsustainable plunder, particularly from the 1970s, rapidly degrading forests. But now reform of Myanmar's timber trade is on the national political agenda, reform which will be crucial for the Nation's transition towards an equitable and sustainable development trajectory.New legislative measures within consuming countries, including the EU, to challenge illegally sourced timber and wood product supplies have begun to exert a catalytic influence on Myanmar's forest policies, and converging with domestic civil society pressures have led in 2013 to the initiation of a formal ‘Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade’ (or FLEGT) bilateral process between the European Union and the Government of Myanmar.This paper presents an analysis of the nature of Myanmar's current timber trade and of the challenges and opportunities for reform, particularly in relation to the emerging FLEGT process. We argue that there are eight key aspects of Myanmar's timber trade overdue for democratic reform, which the FLEGT process puts into sharp relief: 1) resolution of ethnic conflicts primarily in upland forested areas, 2) reform of forest tenures; 3) a review of overall forest sector policies and the appropriate place of timber production; 4) reform of military era state timber institutions, 5) a return to silviculturally based sustainable forest management; 6) restructuring of the timber industry away from ‘crony’ domination; 7) measures to combat illegal logging and assure the rule of law; and 8) citizen participation in policy development and implementation.This ‘shopping list’ of democratic reforms implies a major and undoubtedly difficult process ahead, and success is far from certain. From 2013 promising initial progress has already begun on several of these areas. However, although the Government of Myanmar may give the international audience the impression that it is rapidly democratising, on the ground only limited substantive changes are yet experienced in rural areas, and resistance to reform persists amongst the military and their commercial partners. A spectrum of possible outcomes for forest sector reform may be foreseen, from mere token improvements on the dictatorship-era ‘business as usual’ to a thorough realisation of democratic aspirations. The outcome will be determined by the balance of power between civil society, public representatives, timber merchants particularly the powerful so-called ‘crony’ and proxy military business interests, and the intermediating powers of Government (including a significant rent-seeking ‘shadow state’), the EU, and the international markets that drive the demand for Burmese timber. The extent to which the FLEGT process can reinforce the wider democratisation process may be a decisive factor.     

日本森林资源供求变动趋势和经营管理战略创新

丰富的森林资源促进了第2次世界大战结束后日本经济的恢复和高速发展。此后,林产品市场供求、生产经营和产业政策发生了重大变化。文中分析了日本森林资源和森林经营现状、木材供求和森林功能多样化的趋势,以及林业政策、经营管理和技术创新的动向,以期为理论研究和业务决策提供参考。日本在经济高速增长期过后,木材需求量减少,自给率维持低位。近年来,日本林木进入集中主伐利用期,社会对森林生态环保需求增大,森林经营面临着规模过小、国有林缺乏经营活力、年轻劳动力减少等问题。日本森林经营管理创新的重点包括提高科技贡献率、改革林业特别是国有林的生产经营体制、提升森林在生态与环境和经济减贫等多方面价值。目前,上述创新已经效果初现,也是今后日本林业改革发展的主要方向。     

Forest policy in aroused society: Ukrainian post-Orange Revolution challenges

With the collapse of the communist regime the market changes were introduced in Ukraine, as in other Central and Eastern European Countries, including forestry sector. Reform was not as radical as in other sectors of economy, nor in the forestry sector as in some other countries of region. Ukraine is involved in international forest policy dialogue, particularly Intergovernmental and Pan-European processes of the forest sector development on the principles of sustainability, but implementation of international agreements needs to be sounder in practice.This paper discusses the current situation in forest sector and achievements and failures in economic, environmental, and social aspects of forest sector development. Policy and institutional mechanisms to develop the sustainable forest management (SFM) approaches are discussed. We analyze preconditions for institutional building (legislature, institutions, policy actors) looking at both the existing potential and the constraints in the realization of urgent tasks that arise in the economy in a period of transition. Specific attention is given to the national forest policy conception and forest sector development prospects.     

洪都拉斯林业现状与合作展望

按照服务国家外交、外贸2个大局,我国正在加强实施林业“走出去”战略,寻求多元化的林业国际合作。洪都拉斯位于中美洲北部,水热条件良好,森林资源丰富,是我国在拉美地区开展林业双边合作的潜在国家。文中介绍了洪都拉斯森林资源状况、林业法规政策、林业管理体制、森林经营管理和林产品贸易等现状,归纳了洪都拉斯林业存在的问题,展望了我国林业未来与之在天然林可持续经营、发展人工林、林产品加工和林业扶贫减贫等重点领域的合作前景,以期为我国未来与之开展林业双边合作提供参考,有利于我国在拉美地区树立林业双边合作的样板,提升我国在该地区的形象与影响力。     

Non-market forest ecosystem services and decision support in Nordic countries

The need to integrate non-market ecosystem services into decision-making is widely acknowledged. Despite the exponentially growing body of literature, trade-offs between services are still poorly understood. We conducted a systematic review of published literature in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) on the integration of non-market forest ecosystem services into decision-making. The aim of the review was two-fold: (1) to provide an overview of coverage of biophysical and socio-economic assessments of non-market ecosystem services in relation to forest management; (2) to determine the extent of the integration of biophysical and socio-economic models of these services into decision support models. Our findings reveal the need for wider coverage of non-market ecosystem services and evidence-based modelling of how forest management regimes affect ecosystem services. Furthermore, temporal and spatial modelling of ecosystem impacts remains a challenge. We observed a few examples of multiple non-market services assessments. Integration of non-market services into decision support was performed with either biophysical or socio-economic models, often using proxies and composite indicators. The review reveals that there is scope for more comprehensive and integrated model development, including multiple ecosystem services and appropriate handling of forest management impacts.     

Scaling issues in forest ecosystem management and how to address them with models

Scaling is widely recognized as a central issue in ecology. The associated cross-scale interactions and process transmutations make scaling (i.e. a change in spatial or temporal grain and extent) an important issue in understanding ecosystem structure and functioning. Moreover, current concepts of ecosystem stewardship, such as sustainability and resilience, are inherently scale-dependent. The importance of scale and scaling in the context of forest management is likely to further increase in the future because of the growing relevance of ecosystem services beyond timber production. As a result, a consideration of processes both below (e.g. leaf-level carbon uptake in the context of climate change mitigation) and above (e.g. managing for biodiversity conservation at the landscape scale) the traditional focus on the stand level is required in forest ecosystem management. Furthermore, climate change will affect a variety of ecosystem processes across scales, ranging from photosynthesis (tree organs) to disturbance regimes (landscape scale). Assessing potential climate change impacts on ecosystem services thus requires a multi-scale perspective. However, scaling issues have received comparatively little attention in the forest management community to date. Our objectives here are thus first, to synthesize scaling issues relevant to forest management and second, to elucidate ways of dealing with complex scaling problems by highlighting examples of how they can be addressed with ecosystem models. We have focused on three current management issues of particular importance in European forestry: (1) climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, (2) multi-functional stand management for biodiversity and non-timber goods and services and (3) improving the resilience to natural disturbances. We conclude that taking into account the full spatiotemporal heterogeneity and dynamics of forest ecosystems in management decision-making is likely to make management more robust to increasing environmental and societal pressures. Models can aid this process through explicitly accounting for system dynamics and changing conditions, operationally addressing the complexity of cross-scale interactions and emerging properties. Our synthesis indicates that increased attention to scaling issues can help forest managers to integrate traditional management objectives with emerging concerns for ecosystem services and therefore deserves more attention in forestry.