Social capital in small-scale forestry: A local case study in Southern Sweden

Abstract

Small-scale forestry builds upon interactions among local stakeholders. Forest management entails multiple social situations such as consultations or cooperative engagements between owners and forest professionals. Successful social endeavours rest on positive social capital as operationalised via trust. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with forest owners, managers and other forestry stakeholders, this study explores how trust influences the social relationships in a local context of Southern Swedish forestry. Most strikingly, the analysis reveals large differences in owners' trust towards two major actors: the Swedish Forest Agency (SFA) and the forest owner association (FOA) Södra. Permanence of personnel, a client-based approach, and personal features of SFA's local forest officer lead to strong local anchoring and high trust towards SFA. Södra proved to be a trustful partner in the aftermath of calamities; however its industrial priorities seem to erode owners' trust. The empirical findings of this study demonstrate the importance of recognising personal relationships and the catalysing role of bonding social capital in order to understand the local forest management situations. Our results are useful for forestry organisations and policy-makers willing to comprehend the local context and implement best practices in small-scale forestry.

How trust influence social capital to support collective action in agroforestry development?

“…The similarity in tribe, religion and family relationships that exist in Sidodadi and Sumur Kumbang communities strengthen the trust in the community, as bonding in social capital. Bonding social capital is presented as trust among closer and exclusive networks where members know each other very well (Guillen et al 2015). With strong bonding, communities become more open to communicate and coordinate to manage the land in forest areas.…”

“…Fisher (2013) points out that trust becomes an important catalyst that allows passive information to be transformed into valuable knowledge. The idea is supported by Guillen et al (2015) who argued the importance of personal relationships and the catalyst role of social capital ties in forest management. Koutsou et al (2014) showed farmers' trust tend to increase at individual level, particularly for farmers who take collective action as well as allowing farmers to be flexible in adapting to new conditions.…”

“…Social capital is an essential aspect of community forest management implementation (Guillen et al 2015) because communities surrounding the forest have limited physical and economic capital. Therefore, the communities need to preserve social capital to improve their economic wellbeing both directly and indirectly (Iswandono 2015).…”

Social capital measurement based on “The value explorer” method

“…Roslinda (2018) considers in its work "Social Community Capital" in the management of the Danau National Park running National Park Management Center, and proved that government and the community need to cooperate and pay greater attention to resistance to changes. In a study by Swiss scientists, Guillén et al (2015) it is highlighted how trust influences social relations in the local forestry context and reveals differences in the activities of similar farms. Afandi et al (2017) consider the relationship between social capital and people's entrepreneurial participation in 35 countries in Europe and Asia and examine the impact of the three-dimensional concept of social capitaltrust, networks and norms -on the three stages of the entrepreneurial process -preference, trial and success.…”

Análise de redes sociais como subsídio para a gestão ambiental: um estudo de caso

“…Nesse sentido, a importância da ARS está na conectividade dos atores sociais que são atuantes na gestão ambiental. Em geral, o capital social é baseado nos níveis de confiança, regras e combinados dentro de uma rede (BATT, 2008;BOURDIEU, 1980;BURT, 1997BURT, , 2000COLEMAN, 1988;GUILLÉN;WALLIN;BRUKAS, 2015;MARTELETO, 2004;PRETTY;WARD, 2001). A presença dessas regras é o que permite a institucionalização da rede, e o capital social pode ser entendido como um conjunto de redes e normas que reduzem os riscos de relações entre pessoas desconhecidas (SILVA;…”