Attitudes on intensive forestry. An investigation into perceptions of increased production requirements in Swedish forestry

Abstract

In 2008, the Swedish government launched an inquiry into the possibilities, benefits and requirements for conducting intensive forestry in part of the Swedish countryside, including fertilization, genetically improved plant material and fast-growing species beyond what is currently allowed in Swedish legislation. Drawing upon part of that governmental investigation, this paper analyzes attitudes toward intensive forestry over time. The study draws upon studies of points of conflict written in the 1970s and 1980s, attitudes among different stakeholder groups, and interviews with forest owners and stakeholder groups potentially affected by intensive forestry. The study concludes that the diverging opinions as to what constitutes acceptable forest use have remained largely the same over the years. Radical landscape change is generally not seen as desirable, but views diverge over the use of novel tree species and the use of fertilization.

Keywords:

• Attitudes
• intensive forestry
• perceptions
• Sweden

Acknowledgements

The article is based on a preliminary report to the government inquiry on intensive forestry Lindkvist, A., Mineur, E., Nordlund, A., Nordlund, C., Olsson, O., Sandström, C. & Westin, K., 2009. Konflikt och konsensus. Intensivodling av skog ur ett humanistiskt och samhällsvetenskapligt perspektiv. Faktaunderlag till MINT-utredningen. SLU, Rapport. ISBN 978-91-86197-48-3. The study was led by Carina Keskitalo. Funding for its revision has been provided by the Future Forests program, funded by MISTRA, the forest industry, SLU, and Umeå University. We are also thankful to the editor and two anonymous referees for their comments.