The Future of Public Forests: An Institutional Blending Approach to Forest Governance in England

Early in 2011, the Government initiated a consultation on the potential sale of the Public Forest Estate in England. This proposal leads to vociferous negative public reaction and the consultation was withdrawn and an Independent Panel established. This paper reviews the arguments as to the options and appropriate institutional arrangements for forest management. The Government's proposal reflected a continuing focus on neoliberalisation. However, we argue that discussion of neoliberalism has become excessively broad and contradictory and we set the debate about the PFE in the context of institutional blending. First we consider whether forestry operations might be more efficient if held under private ownership and the role of contracting out forest and recreational activities on the estate. Forest land produces multiple outputs, including both private and public goods. After briefly reviewing the ways in which the state can regulate environmental management of private forest land, we consider alternative types of private ownership and their potential contributions to forest governance. Appropriate institutions will depend on the public objectives and circumstances of particular locations and we briefly outline alternative arrangements suited to particular contexts. Finally we reflect on the outcome of the review and on the role of the Forestry Commission in contemporary circumstances. (Contains 1 figure.)