MultiForSe - multi-use forestry, private forest ownerships and social learning networks

Description

Alternative forest management methods have the potential to diversify primary production and provide a wider variety of income opportunities in rural regions while also improving a wide range of environmental aspects. Individuals and families own slightly more than half of Sweden’s productive forests, which makes them a key driver of decision-making for implementing alternative management.

Although forest management practices in Sweden are embedded in a large, established industry with a high degree of inertia, a recent movement is picking up momentum in which Swedish family forest owners are venturing into new spaces of forest uses and management methods outside the status quo. Swedish family forest owners are at the centre of a renewed interest in multi-use forestry, an umbrella term for a variety of non-commercial forest uses as well as new ways of using and managing forests, ranging from small volume wood products to launching forest-based enterprises in the service sector.

This research project investigates how the social learning networks that facilitate processes of small-scale change in forest use already underway can be leveraged to accelerate the adoption of alternative forest management methods. By focusing on Swedish family forest owners as grass roots agents who catalyse management transitions, we assess the effects and benefits of alternative forest stewardship practices and the impacts they have on sustaining rural livelihoods at localized scales.

MultiForSe consists of four work packages (WP) that employ different methods and approaches.

• WP1 uses qualitative interviews to map current forest practices and the networks working to promote various values and multi-use in the forest.
• WP2 is quantitative and analyzes forest owners' behaviors and attitudes through a national survey.
• WP3 models forestry based on the results from the first two packages to predict future responses to various policies.
• In the fourth WP, researchers collaborate with key stakeholders in the forestry sector to validate results and create policy recommendations.

The project contributes to theories about social networks by explaining how knowledge sharing influences decision-making among forest owners. By combining qualitative and quantitative research as well as modelling, the project enables proposals for policy measures that can increase the use of sustainable forest methods while considering more societal benefits and goals.