title: Avoiding the pitfalls of adaptive management implementation in Swedish silviculture.
abstract: There is a growing demand for alternatives to Sweden's current dominant silvicultural system, driven by a desire to raise biomass production, meet environmental goals and mitigate climate change. However, moving towards diversified forest management that deviates from well established silvicultural practices carries many uncertainties and risks. Adaptive management is often suggested as an effective means of managing in the context of such complexities. Yet there has been scepticism over its appropriateness in cases characterised by large spatial extents, extended temporal scales and complex land ownership-characteristics typical of Swedish forestry. Drawing on published research, including a new paradigm for adaptive management, we indicate how common pitfalls can be avoided during implementation. We indicate the investment, infrastructure, and considerations necessary to benefit from adaptive management. In doing so, we show how this approach could offer a pragmatic operational model for managing the uncertainties, risks and obstacles associated with new silvicultural systems and the challenges facing Swedish forestry.
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183, Umeå, Sweden. lucy.rist@slu.se.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rist
authors.affiliation: Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Box 49, 23053, Alnarp, Sweden. adam.felton@slu.se.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Felton
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. erland.marald@umu.se.
authors.forename: Erland
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mårald
authors.affiliation: Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. lars.samuelsson@umu.se.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Samuelsson
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183, Umeå, Sweden. tomas.lundmark@slu.se.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lundmark
authors.affiliation: Rosvall Forest Consulting AB, Ringvägen 43, 91832, Sävar, Sweden. ola.rosvall@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rosvall
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D058735:Environmental Policy; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D065928:Forests; D012306:Risk; D013548:Sweden; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Climate change; Forest management; Risk; Silviculture; Uncertainty