Forest ownership changes in Europe: State of knowledge and conceptual foundations

Abstract

Forest ownership is changing in Europe. Reasons include recent institutional changes in Eastern Europe, changing lifestyles of non-agricultural owners and afforestation. At present, 7 there is little comparative analysis across Europe, and the implications that these changes 8 have for forest management and for the fulfilment and redefinition of policy objectives have 9 not been addressed systematically. This paper has been developed in the framework of a 10 European research network on forest ownership change, based on conceptual work, 11 literature reviews and empirical evidence from 28 European countries. It aims to provide an 12 overview of the state of knowledge, to discuss relevant issues and provide conceptual and 13 practical foundations for future research, forest management approaches, and policy making. 14 In particular, it discusses possible approaches for classifying forest ownership types and 15 understandings of "new" forest ownership. One important insight is that the division into 16 public and private forests is not as clear as often assumed and that an additional category of 17 semi-public (or semi-private) forms of forest ownership would be desirable. Another 18 recommendation is that the concepts of "new forest owners" vs. "new forest owner types" 19 should be differentiated more consciously. We observe that, in research and policy practice, 20 the mutual relations between forest ownership structure and policies are often neglected, for 21 instance, how policies may directly and indirectly influence ownership development, and 22 what different ownership categories mean for the fulfilment of policy goals. Finally, we 23 propose that better support should be provided for the development of new, adapted forest 24 management approaches for emerging forest owner types. Forest ownership deserves 25 greater attention in studies dealing with forest policy or forest management.

Reflections of active forest owners to the public-private forestry support system in Estonia

“…Why not even on a regional level? Many CEE countries face rather similar patterns of ownership changes (Weiss et al, 2019b), FOA developments (Sarvašová et al, 2015) or patterns in owners' characteristics (Matilainen et al, 2019). Similarly to what is being done with forests as biological objects -e.g.…”

“…In addition, to explore how these needs are influenced by various ownership characteristics and how current policy and service developments meet the requirements of forest owners. Recent research has illustrated how diverse and fragmented forest ownership and owners can be (Weiss et al, 2019b). One of the main ways to systemize and illustrate this diversity has been developing forest owners' typologies (c.f.…”

“…Forest owner typologies are more likely simplified illustrations of how diverse forest ownership and management can be. Despite the limitations it is highlighted that such diversity of forest owners is often not reflected in forest-related concepts and policies (Weiss et al, 2019b). Moreover, policy-makers' impression about private forest owners is often limited to the understanding that the owners are not very interested in management activities and are rather passive (Feliciano et al, 2017).…”

“…The third group (sermons) characterizes instruments that are not binding but aimed more at informing and educating the target group. The connection between instrument choice, policy changes and forest owner diversity is therefore something rather obvious, hence the criticism that policy-makers should consider such diversity even more (Weiss et al, 2019b). However, at the same time it has been reported that forest owners can be quite reluctant in accepting instruments that start to intervene with their existing practices (Serbruyns & Luyssaert, 2006).…”

Farmers’ Intentions to Lease Forestland: Evidence from Rural China

“…On a global-scale, forestland markets signal a large body of literature from countries that exhibit a sound market economy. In parallel, there are increasing studies from other countries experiencing this transition, i.e., from a centralized market to an open market economy, that also indicate this trend [23][24][25]. Driving forces of forestland markets, such as forestland prices, physical characteristics of the forestland, and buyer perception and intentions, are major research focuses conducted in the countries with sound market economies [26][27][28][29][30][31].…”