Institutional and Actor-Oriented Factors Constraining Expert-Based Forest Information Exchange in Europe: A Policy Analysis from an Actor-Centred Institutionalist Approach

Abstract

Adequate and accessible expert-based forest information has become increasingly in demand for effective decisions and informed policies in the forest and forest-related sectors in Europe. Such accessibility requires a collaborative environment and constant information exchange between various actors at different levels and across sectors. However, information exchange in complex policy environments is challenging, and is often constrained by various institutional, actor-oriented, and technical factors. In forest policy research, no study has yet attempted to simultaneously account for these multiple factors influencing expert-based forest information exchange. By employing a policy analysis from an actor-centred institutionalist perspective, this paper aims to provide an overview of the most salient institutional and actor-oriented factors that are perceived as constraining forest information exchange at the national level across European countries. We employ an exploratory research approach, and utilise both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse our data. The data was collected through a semi-structured survey targeted at forest and forest-related composite actors in 21 European countries. The results revealed that expert-based forest information exchange is constrained by a number of compound and closely interlinked institutional and actor-oriented factors, reflecting the complex interplay of institutions and actors at the national level. The most salient institutional factors that stand out include restrictive or ambiguous data protection policies, inter-organisational information arrangements, different organisational cultures, and a lack of incentives. Forest information exchange becomes even more complex when actors are confronted with actor-oriented factors such as issues of distrust, diverging preferences and perceptions, intellectual property rights, and technical capabilities. We conclude that expert-based forest information exchange is a complex and challenging task. It is driven by actors' preferences/interests, perceptions, and capabilities, and is shaped by formal rules and social norms.

Forest Management Cooperatives and Their Development Under Uncertain Conditions: A Comprehensive Analysis Using an Actor-Centered Institutionalism Approach

“…To date, the ACI concept has been applied in research areas that concentrate more on non-forestry actors, such as water management (Feichtinger 2013), the role of the European Commission in the liberalization of Europe (Schmidt 1998) and the role of economic actors (Pleins 2008). However, a few studies in the area of forest policy have applied ACI in a forest context (Baycheva-Merger et al 2018;Dobšinská et al 2013;Hogl 2002;Salka 2002). So far, ACI has not been used to better understand the interplay of institutions, actors and their interactions of FMCs.…”

Forest Policy Information Networks and the Role of Trust: Cooperative and Competitive Orientations and Underlying Causes

“…In Europe, forest policy networks have emerged as new modes of governance that foster consensus-seeking processes and enhance the coordination and collaboration between a wide range of forestry and environmental actors [1,2]. In this context, the exchange of forest information, often packaged as statistical data or representations such as indicators, has been outlined as a prerequisite for successful collaborative action [3][4][5][6]. It supports the development, implementation and monitoring of forest and forest-related policy and decision making processes, and in turn can help facilitate cross-sectoral coordination and increases efficiency in developing legitimate sustainable forest management policies and practices [5,7,8].…”

“…In this context, the exchange of forest information, often packaged as statistical data or representations such as indicators, has been outlined as a prerequisite for successful collaborative action [3][4][5][6]. It supports the development, implementation and monitoring of forest and forest-related policy and decision making processes, and in turn can help facilitate cross-sectoral coordination and increases efficiency in developing legitimate sustainable forest management policies and practices [5,7,8]. Generally, information exchange encompasses all facets of information production, provision, sharing, access, and use [5].…”

“…It supports the development, implementation and monitoring of forest and forest-related policy and decision making processes, and in turn can help facilitate cross-sectoral coordination and increases efficiency in developing legitimate sustainable forest management policies and practices [5,7,8]. Generally, information exchange encompasses all facets of information production, provision, sharing, access, and use [5].…”

“…To be useful in empirical research, however, the concept must be defined clearly and rather narrowly [28]. For the purpose of this study, trust is defined based on Scharpf [4,5] in the context of policy networks and is presented in Section 2.2. Empirically, the analysis is targeted in Germany, which represents an established Western-style democracy and socially-oriented market economy with a long tradition of disputes between different actors in forest and environmental policy [2].…”