Skepticism of state action in forest certification and voluntary set-asides: a Swedish example with two environmental offsetting options

Non-industrial private forest owners in Sweden are encouraged to mitigate environmental damages from forestry on their properties under a principle of “freedom with responsibility,” although the level of mitigation is generally left to the owners’ discretion. One voluntary measure private forest owners are encouraged to take is setting aside a part of their productive forests for conservation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how non-industrial private forest owner beliefs concerning both their own and the Swedish state’s responsibility for nature protection differ among owners of certified forests, who automatically leave a set-aside, and those who have stayed out of forest certification but have decided to leave a set-aside. Results of a Heckman selection bivariate probit model show that the more a respondent believes the state is responsible for fulfilling environmental goals compared to private forest owners, the less likely it is that an owner of a non-certified forest will leave a set-aside for conservation. Beliefs about responsibility do not, however, differ among owners of certified and non-certified forests. From a policy perspective, Swedish government agencies may have difficulty steering specific measures taken by private forest owners who are interested in conservation but have stayed out of forest certification regimes.