Forest and water governance in Sweden
Water related problems are highlighted as a challenge to sustainable development and the topic of forests and water is gaining increased attention worldwide. Governing forest and water is a complex issue, as the interactions are affected by policies and actors from multiple levels and sectors. In Sw...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Forest Products
2014
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855571165397909504 |
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| author | Berglund, Emma |
| author_browse | Berglund, Emma |
| author_facet | Berglund, Emma |
| author_sort | Berglund, Emma |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Water related problems are highlighted as a challenge to sustainable development and the topic of forests and water is gaining increased attention worldwide. Governing forest and water is a complex issue, as the interactions are affected by policies and actors from multiple levels and sectors. In Sweden, forests cover much of the land and forestry is an important land-use, inevitably impacting the water in the landscape. This study aims to understand and explain the existing governance framework around forestry and water in Sweden. Based on the Policy Arrangement Approach, the study’s research questions focused on the actors involved, the formal and informal rules, the resources and power structures and the discourses related to forestry and water in Sweden. To answer the research questions qualitative document analysis and interviews with relevant actors from different actor groups were undertaken. As a smaller part of the study discourses on the management level where examined by qualitative interviews with forestry practitioners.
The main findings of the study show that the issue of forestry and water in Sweden is a multi-actor, multi-level and cross-sectoral field. There is an overall agreement across all actor groups that the EU Water Framework Directive, adopted in 2000, raised the issue of forests and water on the Swedish agenda and that forestry as a land use impacts the water in the landscape. Furthermore, actors have a common understanding of the issue, where implementing water consideration in forestry is seen as a problem. However, two conflicting narratives concerning forestry regulations were found, where the ENGOs advocate more detailed steering, whereas authorities and the private forest sector advocate freedom under responsibility. At the management level forestry and water was considered a relevant issue as well, as forestry impacts water. Issues related to the quality of the operational plan were perceived as an impediment to achieving adequate water consideration in forest management.
Based on the findings, the study concludes that the involvement of multiple actors with differing interests call for participatory approaches in the policy making process, building on consensual goals, which could lead to a more solid implementation of the policy outputs. One option in the continuing policy making process could be to follow the ideal of deliberative democracy, creating regulations based on consensually agreed upon goals. Research organizations were highlighted as key actors by both ENGOs and the private forest sector, and could hold an important role as bridging organizations providing accountable expertise. Furthermore, the complex governance environment points to a need for developing the coordination and cooperation between authorities from different sectors. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU7329 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Forest Products |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Forest Products |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU73292014-09-24T10:39:36Z Forest and water governance in Sweden Styrning av skog och vatten i Sverige Berglund, Emma forestry water management EU water framework directive policy arrangement approach water consideration environmental consideration participation deliberative democracy Water related problems are highlighted as a challenge to sustainable development and the topic of forests and water is gaining increased attention worldwide. Governing forest and water is a complex issue, as the interactions are affected by policies and actors from multiple levels and sectors. In Sweden, forests cover much of the land and forestry is an important land-use, inevitably impacting the water in the landscape. This study aims to understand and explain the existing governance framework around forestry and water in Sweden. Based on the Policy Arrangement Approach, the study’s research questions focused on the actors involved, the formal and informal rules, the resources and power structures and the discourses related to forestry and water in Sweden. To answer the research questions qualitative document analysis and interviews with relevant actors from different actor groups were undertaken. As a smaller part of the study discourses on the management level where examined by qualitative interviews with forestry practitioners. The main findings of the study show that the issue of forestry and water in Sweden is a multi-actor, multi-level and cross-sectoral field. There is an overall agreement across all actor groups that the EU Water Framework Directive, adopted in 2000, raised the issue of forests and water on the Swedish agenda and that forestry as a land use impacts the water in the landscape. Furthermore, actors have a common understanding of the issue, where implementing water consideration in forestry is seen as a problem. However, two conflicting narratives concerning forestry regulations were found, where the ENGOs advocate more detailed steering, whereas authorities and the private forest sector advocate freedom under responsibility. At the management level forestry and water was considered a relevant issue as well, as forestry impacts water. Issues related to the quality of the operational plan were perceived as an impediment to achieving adequate water consideration in forest management. Based on the findings, the study concludes that the involvement of multiple actors with differing interests call for participatory approaches in the policy making process, building on consensual goals, which could lead to a more solid implementation of the policy outputs. One option in the continuing policy making process could be to follow the ideal of deliberative democracy, creating regulations based on consensually agreed upon goals. Research organizations were highlighted as key actors by both ENGOs and the private forest sector, and could hold an important role as bridging organizations providing accountable expertise. Furthermore, the complex governance environment points to a need for developing the coordination and cooperation between authorities from different sectors. Vattenrelaterade problem har lyfts fram som en utmaning för hållbar utveckling och frågan om skogens inverkan på vatten får allt större uppmärksamhet världen över. Styrning av skog och vatten är en komplex fråga eftersom samspelet påverkas av politik och aktörer från flera nivåer och från flera sektorer. Större delen av Sveriges yta täcks av skog och skogsbruket är en viktig markanvändning som oundvikligen påverkar vattnet i landskapet. Denna studie syftar till att förstå och förklara den befintliga styrningen kring skogsbruk och vatten i Sverige. Studien baserar sig på det teoretiska ramverket Policy Arrangement Approach och forskningsfrågorna fokuserar på de involverade aktörerna, formella och informella regler, resurser och maktstrukturer samt diskurser relaterade till skogsbruk och vatten i Sverige. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har en kvalitativ dokumentanalys och kvalitativa intervjuer med relevanta aktörer från olika aktörsgrupper genomförts. Som en mindre del av studien undersöktes även diskurser på förvaltningsnivå genom kvalitativa interjuver med praktiker i skogsbruket. De viktigaste resultaten från studien visar att frågan om skogsbruk och vatten i Sverige inbegriper flera aktörer och flera sektorer på flera nivåer. Det finns en övergripande enighet i alla aktörsgrupper att EU:s ramdirektiv för vatten som antogs år 2000 lyfte frågan om skog och vatten på den svenska agendan och att skogsbruk som markanvändning påverkar vattnet i landskapet. Aktörerna har även en gemensam förståelse av frågan, där implementering av vattenhänsyn i skogsbruket ses som ett problem. Två motstridiga narrativ gällande reglering av skog hittades, där miljöorganisationer förespråkar mer detaljerad styrning och myndigheter och den privata skogssektorn förespråkar frihet under ansvar. Även på förvaltningsnivå ansågs skogsbruk och vatten vara en relevant fråga. Problem med kvaliteten på det operativa traktdirektiv lyftes som ett hinder för att nå god vattenhänsyn vid skogsskötselåtgärder. Att flera aktörer med olika intressen är involverade i skog- och vattenfrågan belyser vikten av att använda metoder som bygger på deltagande i den politiska beslutsprocessen. Med mål som bygger på konsensus kan en mer solid implementering av de politiska besluten nås. Ett tillvägagångssätt i den fortsatta politiska processen skulle kunna vara att följa idealet i deliberativ demokrati genom att skapa regleringar som bygger på mål överenskomna genom konsensus. Forskningsorganisationer lyftes fram som viktiga aktörer av både miljöorganisationer och den privata skogssektorn. De skulle kunna ha en viktig roll som överbryggande organisationer som tillhandahåller expertis. Den komplexa situationen kring styrning av skogsbruk och vatten belyser också vikten av koordinering och samarbete mellan myndigheten från olika sektorer. SLU/Dept. of Forest Products 2014 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/7329/ |
| spellingShingle | forestry water management EU water framework directive policy arrangement approach water consideration environmental consideration participation deliberative democracy Berglund, Emma Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title | Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title_full | Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title_fullStr | Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title_full_unstemmed | Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title_short | Forest and water governance in Sweden |
| title_sort | forest and water governance in sweden |
| topic | forestry water management EU water framework directive policy arrangement approach water consideration environmental consideration participation deliberative democracy |