title: In the eye of the stakeholder: The challenges of governing social forest values.
abstract: This study examines which kinds of social benefits derived from forests are emphasised by Swedish stakeholders and what governance modes and management tools they accept. Our study shows that there exists a great variety among stakeholders' perceptions of forests' social values, where tourism and recreation is the most common reference. There are also differences in preferred governance modes and management where biomass and bioenergy sectors advocate business as usual (i.e. framework regulations and voluntarism) and other stakeholders demand rigid tools (i.e. coercion and targeting) and improved landscape planning. This divide will have implications for future policy orientations and require deliberative policy processes and improved dialogue among stakeholders and authorities. We suggest that there is a potential for these improvements, since actors from almost all stakeholder groups support local influence on governance and management, acknowledged and maintained either by the authorities, i.e. targeting, or by the stakeholders themselves, i.e. voluntarism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. anna.stens@umu.se.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sténs
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. therese.bjarstig@umu.se.
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bjärstig
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Resource Management, SLU, Skogsmarksgränd, 901 83, Umeå, Sweden. eva-maria.nordstrom@slu.se.
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Nordström
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. camilla.sandstrom@umu.se.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandström
authors.affiliation: Swedish Forest Agency, P.O. Box 284, 901 06, Umeå, Sweden. clas.fries@skogsstyrelsen.se.
authors.forename: Clas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fries
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. johanna.johansson@umu.se.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D058735:Environmental Policy; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D010067:Ownership; D011639:Public Opinion; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Cultural ecosystem services; Forest management; Legal instruments; Multiple use forestry; Social values; Stakeholder analysis