Drivers and Barriers to Change to Governance in Small-Scale Forestry

The progressive introduction of new modes of governance promoted by the international dialogue on forests during the last 20 years has resulted in a concrete change of the management of the forests, with a new style of relationship between the public authority and the local actors. The change has been considerable in some specific situations, for instance when the State plays a major role in public decisions and when the continuing economic transformation increases the importance of private estates. In both cases, small-scale forestry is especially concerned. Based on detailed examples selected in various situations where this change is significant, in western Europe (Belgium, France, Germany) and in transitioning (Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine) and developing (Marocco) countries, this special issue of the Small-scale Forestry sheds a new light on the capability of small-scale forestry to adapt to a transformation of the system of public decision-making. In most cases analysed, the barriers to adaptation, usually presented as resulting from fragmentation of the management decisions and a great number and diversity of stakeholders, also appear as drivers to change, in a global process where networks of actors are recomposed and power redistributed along a new scheme of national and regional links.