Exploring the future use of forests: perceptions from non-industrial private forest owners in Finland

Liina Elli Elina Häyrinen, Osmo Pekka Antero Mattila, Sami Alvar Berghäll, Markus Kristian Närhi, Anne Maarit Kristiina Toppinen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

The transformation of the forest sector toward a bioeconomy calls for finding new sources of competitive advantage for the whole sector to retain its future viability. Non-industrial private forest owners are an important group of actors in the Finnish forest-based sector, as they supply 80% of industrial roundwood and control numerous other tangible and intangible forest-based ecosystem services. Our study analyzes forest owner views on the future use of forests in Finland, their perceptions on the evolving sectorial interlinkages and the position of the forest sector now and in the future bioeconomy. The data were collected in two phases: through telephone interviews of forest owners (n=278) and four focus group (FG) discussions (n=17), and were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The interviews showed that forest owners consider the highest potential for strengthening the sector toward bioeconomy to come from collaboration with energy and construction businesses. During the FG phase, we identified new possibilities founded on forest-based recreational services, cooperation with nature-based tourism and in increasing value-added wood products. In total, forest owners as a high-involvement group emphasized future value creation to be based upon forest ecosystem services and in diversifying the utilization of forests beyond the dominant raw material-driven mindset.
Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Forest Research
Volume32
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)327-337
Number of pages11
ISSN0282-7581
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2017
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fields of Science

  • 4112 Forestry
  • Customer involvement
  • forest bioeconomy
  • qualitative content analysis
  • service dominant logic
  • bioeconomy
  • objectives
  • Sustainability
  • SECTOR
  • innovativeness
  • Entrepreneurs
  • strategies
  • management
  • future use of forests
  • Non-industrial private forest owners

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