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The Horizon 2020 project, ALTERFOR, generated knowledge about forest management alternatives. Researchers modelled a future, sustainable provision of ecosystem services, where a salient question was one of how to facilitate the application of these innovative scientific results in praxis. Our qualitative study uses a method mix and the analytical Research-Integration-Utilisation (RIU) Model to provide in-depth explanation of the knowledge transfer going on between the ALTERFOR research project and the forestry praxis. The leading assumption related to this communication process is that selected pieces of information are de-embedded from their scientific context of the research project and re-embedded into the existing knowledge of specific forestry actors, who utilise them to implement science-based management solutions in their forest. This assumption is empirically corroborated by using ALTERFOR's German case. For the approximately 100, 000 ha of Augsburg Western Woods (south-western Bavaria) the researchers simulated five scenarios, showing which ecosystem services would be provided by different forest management models over the next 100 years. The integration of scenario results into the praxis comprised three integration forums. Within the first forum (pre-study) the alternatives focusing on “recreation” and “hunting” were dropped due to a lack of supportive powerful allies from praxis. Within the second forum (bilateral meeting) the three other scenarios - “timber production”, “multifunctional” and “set aside” scenarios, all remained in the discourse of praxis. Yet, the third forum (multilateral meeting - workshop) triggered the toughest selection. Most project results were either ignored or declined strongly, so that only a few pieces of scientific information found acceptance by particular actors, who utilised them either through support or resistance: (i) the State Forest used the information about the “multifunctional” scenario to legitimise the solution which was already in use (multifunctional management), whereas the Private Forest used the information for the possibility to increase timber harvests in a sustainable way, in order to push for (an otherwise contested) strategy of maximized timber harvesting; (ii) the State Forest resisted the possibility of increasing sustainable timber harvesting, whereas the Private Forest rejected the implementation of set asides. Both actors had sufficient power capabilities to realise their interests, even against the interests of other landowners or political groups. These results show that it is not complex scientific knowledge that makes it through the selection process, but rather, pieces of scientific information, de-embedded from their theory-based context of the research project, are re-embedded into the context of powerful actors in praxis, who then utilise these to either support or resist their own science-based solutions. Based on this, we suggest that the ambitious Horizon 2020 goal of facilitating knowledge transfer is attained more effectively when the project opens up multiple options for dialogue between researchers and different groups from praxis (multi-actor approach), abandoning the idea of one, best solution and offering different alternatives instead.

The study provides insight into the future of the forest-based bioeconomy sector in selected Southeast European (SEE) countries. It elicits experts’ understanding of forest-based bioeconomy, their opinion and level of agreement on future implementation of the bioeconomy concept by 2030/2050, through two-round Delphi. The study also provides the state-of-the-art of the bioeconomy related policies in selected countries for the readers’ better understanding of the context among other. Results showed that (i) instead of explicit national and regional bioeconomy strategies, Serbia, Croatia and North Macedonia have bundle of bioeconomy related documents, across diverse forest-related sectors, which directly or indirectly address bioeconomy concept; (ii) the forest-based bioeconomy concept is seen as observable; there are expected future changes in the forest sector by expansion of the current forest-based sector to added-value products/applications; (iii) forest ownership isn’t expected to change from small-scale to large scale ownership, followed by crucial role of policy changes, for further fostering a forest-based bioeconomy concept, and for raising awareness among forestry professionals; (iv) by 2030 the need for cross-sectoral cooperation will increase, which will initiate approach change in forestry professionals, and increase demand for woody biomass; (v) by 2050 forest-based value chains and business models will become more diverse. Bigger changes are expected by 2050. Study contributes to better understanding of SEE and national contexts for implementation of the forest-based bioeconomy. Further priorities setting through regional and/or national forest-based bioeconomy strategic documents could support its implementation.

SUMMARY State forest institutions in Poland, where 80% of the forest is state-owned, bear high responsibility for the sustainable development of this natural resource and strive to fulfil economic, ecological and social goals. To examine how far these goals are met and which strategic option(s) can be identified for the future the 3L Model was applied and comprehensive performance of the State Forests National Forest Holding (State Forests) and the Ministry of Environment evaluated. The field study relied on a mix of techniques and the data, collected 2014 and 2015, showed the achievements of both institutions clearly: (i) the requirements of sustaining forest stands are met in practice; (ii) the State Forests makes profits and has enough resources for the active management of forests and goal achievement, thereby establishing some independence from the public budgets; (iii) the improved cost efficiency could vastly contribute to the stability of the State Forests, which is true for its marketing and the ...

Survey-based research is the most widely applied and simultaneously most criticized approach. Whereas many disciplines failed to adhere to its fundamental principles, e.g. due to low response rates, often inadequate sampling procedures, or an over-reliance on the cross-sectional approaches, in forest science no systematic evidence can be found, even though this kind of inquiry has been used for almost six decades now. We therefore examine how much research in forest science is survey-based and how its amount has developed over time? Has survey-based research in forest science matured? Has this research applied sound methodology and what are the main avenues for improvement? To find answers, we analyzed survey-based articles published in 20 forest science journals from 2005 to 2014 and found that an average of 3.2% of research was survey-based. We could identify a significant increase in the percentage of survey-based articles among the total articles published throughout the same time period. By further analyzing the relative contribution of exploratory, descriptive and explanatory types of survey-based articles, among the total amount of articles we found that the increase in the percentage was mostly concentrated on the group of explanatory articles. According to the research maturity cycle, this indicates that survey-based research in forest science is maturing. By additionally applying a framework of 16 assessment items to our data, we evidenced that for half of these items methodology could have been more carefully applied. Respective improvement avenues were detected by using the Survey Assessment Matrix (SAM).

More than half of Brazilian territory (54%), or approx. 463 million ha, is covered by forests. Public forest ownership dominates with up to 80%, private forests cover cca. 20% and cca. 8% is unclaimed. In public forests the practice of concessions is growing, with the expectation of reducing the problem of Amazonian illegal loggings. Private forests are mainly under plantation management, which generates 5.5% of the country’s industrial gross domestic product. Relevance of both is accordingly high, although not dominant in forest share. A key question for forest policy is how successfully the state regulates both issues in practice. Our paper accordingly focuses on the Brazilian Forest Service and the Ministry of Agriculture, which are state forest institutions in charge of forest concessions and planted forests. We look at their performance against legally based forestry goals and rely on primary (participatory observation, semi-structured personal interviews and questionnaire) and secondary sources (documents) for empirical evidence. The 3 L Model serves as a theoretical basis. It was selected while applying criteria and indicators for evaluation of public institutions´ comprehensive performance with respect to sustainable forest management. The results show that Brazilian forest policy strives toward sustainable forest management, as an overall goal. In more particular, the performance of both examined state forest institutions is more market (than public demand) oriented and moves towards strengthening market competences. At the same time, there are constrains in sustaining forest stands. Due to permanent and strong conflicts related to land use changes in Brazil, the relevance of a mediator, aiming to harmonize all different interests related to forest protection and use, is high, but this role is still not taken, at least not by the evaluated state forest institutions. This represents new task for the forestry practice, while facilitating diverse interests in Brazilian forests could not only be a contribution toward conflict management between environmental, forestry and agribusiness actors but could also grant stronger political role to respective state forest institution(s). For attending this role, the performance evaluation of the whole and rather complex forest-related institutional setting in Brazil could provide relevant science-based policy arguments. This paper shows that the 3 L Model could be applied for such evaluation, as it was possible to adapt it to a non-European country and get a comprehensive overview of Brazilian plantation and concession forestry in practice.

Public forest administrations in the Western Balkans were challenged when facing novel forest policies following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. To answer (i) what (formal) goals lead public forest administrations nowadays and (ii) how do public forest administrations fulfil these goals, we evaluated the implementation of forest policy goals in Serbia, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, and Republika Srpska by using existing criteria and indicators and the 3L model as a theoretical basis. Survey and document analyses focused on the effects observable in state and private forests. In state forests, all public or state forest enterprises were able to reach goals of multifunctionality and profitablity by prioritizing marketable goods. Sustaining forest stands is important, but it is met differently in practice. Performance in private forests is much weaker and the influence of ministry departments or sectors is weak. In conclusion, the potential for a new, stronger role of public forest administration exists: (i) the supply of marketable and nonmarketable goods could be increased, whereas securing sustained forest stands remains a permanent challenge; (ii) efficiency and profits could be improved if internal and external pressures grow; and (iii) joining forces of forestry actors could strengthen the currently weak political role and enable a strong forestry representative to emerge in the future.

SUMMARY To measure the success of state forest institutions the full range of their goals should be considered. As partial evaluations are still dominant a task of a comprehensive performance measuring represents a theoretical and an empirical challenge. In solving this challenge the goals from policy programmes are taken and anchored in the scientific theories. The key question of this paper is the operationalisation of such criteria. For that, the indicators are utilised, which are selected according to the pre-defined quality requirements. By combining these indicators, an ordinal scale ranging from zero (0) to three (3) is designed for each criterion and it is compared how economic, ecological and political goals are met. The applicability of this method is tested on the five state forest institutions in Serbia and Croatia. The main results show that (i) comprehensive evaluation of state forest institutions is empirically feasible, (ii) state forest institutions that manage state-owned forests in Serb...

In this paper the results of the first comprehensive study on perception of and satisfaction with urban forests and green space in seven Southeast European cities are presented. The aims of the paper are to analyse 1) citizen perceptions of the current state of urban forests and green space in their cities, 2) to what extent current urban forests and green space meet their needs and how this can be improved. A cross-sectional study was conducted by using a common face-to-face survey questionnaire. Respondents were selected based on census data though a stratified sampling procedure by taking into account age, gender and city district (n = 384 in each city). The results showed that citizens genuinely care for urban forests and green space in their cities, but are not satisfied with their current state. The respondents found issues related to misbehaviour of other users, the presence and quality of facilities, as well as the presence and quality of management or maintenance the most pressing. There were more statistically significant differences than similarities between cities. Socioeconomic variables explained perceptions only to some extent. Citizens were very supportive of educational campaigns about the importance of urban forests and green space as well as of better enforcement of the existing regulations though having more community wardens that were expected to tackle current unsatisfactory situations. Urban planning and urban forest and green space management in these cities are facing many problems characteristic for post-socialist countries. Study findings are expected to contribute to decision making in urban planning and natural resource management.

In recent years, new policies have emerged in Europe related to both bioenergy and bioeconomy. The study investigated perceptions of the Croatian and Serbian non-industrial private forest owners (NIPFs) concerning energy wood mobilization from forests owned by them. A total of 232 NIPFs from the two countries participated in the study. The NIPFs perceived that they did not have adequate knowledge of selling energy wood, its price, and energy wood entrepreneurship. According to the NIPFs, the most significant obstacle to mobilizing energy wood from private forests was the lack of proper forest roads in their countries. Among the economic instruments, the NIPFs favored subsidies and guaranteed market over tax reduction for mobilizing energy wood and establishing energy wood entrepreneurship. Their main motivation for energy wood production appeared to be expected income from such an activity. It also appeared that the NIPFs would prefer supplying energy biomass from new plantations and harvesting residues instead of using their existing forests. The study provided a number of recommendations for the policy makers in Croatia and Serbia on improving the preconditions for energy wood mobilization from private forests and linking it with the bioeconomy by addressing the issues related to policy, infrastructure, and market development.

Policy-makers articulate a growing need for science-based policy advice that supports their decisions, especially in fields that are dependent on scientific knowledge like natural resources or forestry. Publicly funded organizations, such as departmental research institutes, have been established in many countries to provide science-based policy advice. To assess the activities of two public research institutes, namely, Serbia's Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment (ILFE) and the Croatian Forest Research Institute (CFI), we use the new theory-based analytical model of departmental research developed by Bocher and Krott (2010). This model describes scientific policy advice as the connection between Research (R), Integration (I), and Utilization (U) — the RIU-model. Primary and secondary evidence refer to 148 ILFE and CFI projects conducted from 2005 to 2010. Our critical analysis of empirical data, which were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews and project documentation, shows the following: (i) it is possible to analyze all activities of the two research institutes with the RIU-model of departmental research and present the results using “production lines”; (ii) activities of ILFE and CFI can be presented by the same types of production lines revealing their similar profile; (iii) all three spheres of the RIU-model can be found in the successful ILFE and CFI projects, only the Integration sphere is found in all projects; and (iv) the RIU-model is able to describe comprehensive activities of both research institutes, which opens the possibility to improve current evaluation procedures by taking into account both practical and scientific activities and outputs.