Business on the Margin: Local Practices and the Politics of Forests in Finland

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamic potential inherent in stable looking technological systems. I follow a small Finnish heating business and describe how alternative production practices were established within Finnish forestry. The case shows an interesting development in a sector where local activities have traditionally been coordinated through standardised practices and the physical structure of the forest. My focus is on micro-level shifts of power and I analyse the changing position of local actors in the margins of conventional forestry to understand the fragile nature of the forestry standards. They not only stabilise forestry practices but enable complex interactions and new combinations of actors. Therefore, they also increase the degrees of freedom. My analysis draws from theoretical perspectives of technology studies, actor–network theory and recent discussions in geography on the spatial distribution of power.

Acknowledgements

The case of Tuupovaara is part of an extensive study on wood energy in Finland funded by the Academy of Finland and the KAKS Foundation (2001–2005). The author thanks Yrjö Haila, Dr Maria Åkerman, Dr Juha Hiedanpää, Dr Ari Jokinen, and Leena Leskinen for their detailed comments on the manuscript. The author also thanks Ville Viljanen for technical assistance with Figure 1, Forest Management Association of Southern Tampere Region for giving the permission to publish Figure 3, and Motiva for giving the permission to publish parts of their promotion material in Figure 4. Finally, the author thanks David Kivinen for correcting the language in the manuscript.

Notes

¹ The case is part of a larger research project funded by the Academy of Finland. The research group studied the development of wood fuel use in Finland in a survey of wood energy projects (Peltola, 2003), studies of changing discursive strategies and practices (Åkerman, 2005), the integration of forest fuel production into forest planning (Leskinen, 2006), and the emergence of local heating businesses (Åkerman & Jänis, 2005; Peltola, 2005).

² The co-operative has grown rapidly since 1996 and by 2004 it had 50 members (Tuupovaara heating co-operative, 2005). As well as broadening the resource base, this has allowed the co-operative to step up its operation (Pogostan Sanomat, 11 September 2000; Tuupovaara heating co-operative, 2000).

³ I owe this analogy to Ari Jokinen.