Forest ownership types and motives

The work of WG1 is related to Objective 1 of the action. The aim of WG1 is to give answers the following questions:

  • In which way and how fast are forest ownership types changing in Europe?
  • What goals do the different types of forest owners have for their forests?
  • What attitudes and motivations do forest owners have regarding the management of their forest?
  • What are the constraints, including ecological, technical, legal, social and economic factors?

Tasks WG1

  1. Literature review on: (i) the research approaches, theoretical concepts and typologies that are applied and (ii) existing empirical evidence.
  2. Compilation and analysis of data on changes in forest ownership in terms of structural pre-conditions for forest management (e.g. property rights, fragmentation, management capacities, integration in agriculture/forestry, role of forests for the owners’ livelihood) and respective trends.
  3. Compilation and analysis of data on changes in forest owners’ attitudes, interest, motives and their forest management practices across Europe.
  4. Meta-analysis of statistical empirical findings if data quality allows.
  5. Produce a map of ownership types distribution across Europe, including their attitudes and motivations, underlying legislation and property rights, and trends of change.
  6. Comparative analysis and synthesis information on the results and their implications for management practices and policy fields.

Deliverables (obj 1.)

Overview articles on research approaches, typologies and motives; a database, meta analysis and map of European forest ownership, property rights and forest owners’ attitudes towards their forests.

WG1 Leader

Dr. Gun Lidestav, Swedish University of Agricultural Science (gun.lidestav (at) slu.se)