This is an open access article (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.02.034) under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/)
All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.
Property rights Index; Private forests; Europe; Comparative analysis; Forest management
Abstract :
[en] Private forests are widespread in Europe providing a range of ecosystem services of significant value to society, and there are calls for novel policies to enhance their provision and to face the challenges of environmental changes. Such policies need to acknowledge the importance of private forests, and importantly they need to be based on a deep understanding of how property rights held by private forest owners vary across Europe. We collected and analysed data on the content of property rights based on formal legal requirements existing in 31 European jurisdictions. To allow a comparison across jurisdictions, we constructed an original Property Rights Index for Forestry encompassing five rights domains (access, withdrawal, management, exclusion and alienation). We documented substantial variation of the private forest owners’ rights, and notably to i) make decisions in operational management and the formulation of management goals, ii) withdraw timber resources from their forest, and iii) exclude others from the use of forest resources. We identified broad relations between the scope for decision making of private forest owners and jurisdictions’ former socio-political background and geographical distribution. The variation in the content of property rights has implications for the implementation of international environmental policies, and stresses the need for tailored policy instruments, when addressing European society’s rural development, the bioeconomy, climate change mitigation measures and nature protection strategies.
How private are Europe’s private forests? A comparative property rights analysis
Publication date :
2018
Journal title :
Land Use Policy
ISSN :
0264-8377
eISSN :
1873-5754
Publisher :
Elsevier, Netherlands
Volume :
76
Pages :
535-552
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Commentary :
Corresponding author at: University Stefan cel Mare Suceava, Universitatii 13, 720225, Suceava, Romania.
E-mail address: nichiforel@usv.ro (L. Nichiforel).
Arts, B., Buizer, M., Forests, discourses, institutions: a discursive-institutional analysis of global forest governance. For. Policy Econ. 11 (2009), 340–347.
Avdibegovic, M., Nonic, D., Posavec, S., Petrovic, N., Maric, B., Milijic, V., Krajter, S., Ioras, F., Abrudan, I.V., Policy options for private forest owners in Western Balkans: a qualitative study. Not. Bot. Hortic. Agrobot. Cluj-Napoca, 38, 2010, 257, 10.15835/nbha3814691.
Bertelsmann Stiftung, The Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index (BTI). 2016.
Bouriaud, L., Schmithüsen, F., Allocation of property rights on forests through ownership reform and forest policies in Central and Eastern European countries. Schweiz. Z. Forstwes. 156 (2005), 297–305, 10.3188/szf.2005.0297.
Bouriaud, L., Nichiforel, L., Weiss, G., Bajraktari, A., Curovic, M., Dobrinska, Z., Glavonjic, P., Jarský V., Sarvasova, Z., Teder, M., Governance of private forests in Eastern and Central Europe: an analysis of forest harvesting and management rights. Ann. For. Res., 56, 2013, 3.
Bouriaud, L., Nichiforel, L., Nunes, L., Pereira, H., Bajraktari, A., A property rights-based analysis of the illegal logging for fuelwood in Kosovo. Biomass Bioenergy 67 (2014), 425–434, 10.1016/j.biombioe.2014.05.028.
Brukas, V., Sallnäs, O., Forest management plan as a policy instrument: carrot, stick or sermon?. Land Use Policy 29 (2012), 605–613, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.10.003.
Buttoud, G., Kouplevatskaya-Buttoud, I., Slee, B., Weiss, G., Barriers to institutional learning and innovations in the forest sector in Europe: markets, policies and stakeholders. For. Policy Econ. 13 (2011), 124–131, 10.1016/j.forpol.2010.05.006.
Cashore, B., Van Kooten, G.C., Vertinsky, I., Auld, G., Affolderbach, J., Private or self-regulation? A comparative study of forest certification choices in Canada, the United States and Germany. For. Policy Econ. 7 (2005), 53–69, 10.1016/S1389-9341(03)00011-X.
Church, A., Ravenscroft, N., Landowner responses to financial incentive schemes for recreational access to woodlands in South East England. Land Use Policy 25 (2008), 1–16, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2007.02.003.
Contreras-Hermosilla, A., Peter, E., Meilleures pratiques pour l'application des lois dans le secteur forestier. 2006, Etude FAO Forêts.
Cubbage, F., Harou, P., Sills, E., Policy instruments to enhance multi-functional forest management. For. Policy Econ. 9 (2007), 833–851, 10.1016/j.forpol.2006.03.010.
das Neves Almeida, T.A., García-Sánchez, I.-M., A comparative analysis between composite indexes of environmental performance: an analysis on the CIEP and EPI. Environ. Sci. Policy 64 (2016), 59–74, 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.06.011.
Dobbie, M.J., Dail, D., Environmental indices. Encycl. Environmetrics, 2013, 10.1002/9780470057339.vnn157.
European Comission, European Forest Strategy. 2013 http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/forest/strategy/.
FOREST EUROPE, State of Europe's Forests 2015 Report., 2015 pp.314.
Fares, S., Scarascia-Mugnozza, G., Corona, P., Palahí M., Five steps for managing Europe's forests. Nature, 519, 2015, 407.
Furubotn, E.G., Pejovich, S., Property rights and economic theory: a survey of recent literature. J. Econ. Lit. 10 (1972), 1137–1162.
Galik, C.S., Jagger, P., Bundles, duties, and rights: a revised framework for analysis of natural resource property rights regimes. Land Econ. 91 (2015), 76–90, 10.3368/le.91.1.76.
Ginsburg, T., Pitfalls of measuring the rule of law. Hague J. Rule Law 3 (2011), 269–280, 10.1017/S187640451120006X.
Glück, P., Avdibegović M., Čabaravdić A., Nonić D., Petrović N., Posavec, S., Stojanovska, M., The preconditions for the formation of private forest owners’ interest associations in the Western Balkan Region. For. Policy Econ. 12 (2010), 250–263, 10.1016/j.forpol.2010.02.001.
Hsu, A., et al. Environmental Performance Index. 2016, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
Kissling-Näf, I., Bisang, K., Rethinking recent changes of forest regimes in Europe through property-rights theory and policy analysis. For. Policy Econ. 3 (2001), 99–111, 10.1016/S1389-9341(01)00059-4.
Kleinschmit, D., Lindstad, B.H., Thorsen, B.J., Toppinen, A., Roos, A., Baardsen, S., Shades of green: a social scientific view on bioeconomy in the forest sector. Scand. J. For. Res. 29 (2014), 402–410, 10.1080/02827581.2014.921722.
Krott, M., Forest Policy Analysis. 2005, Springer Science & Business Media.
Lê S., Josse, J., Husson, F., FactoMineR: an R package for multivariate analysis. J. Stat. Softw. 25 (2008), 1–18.
Löfmarck, E., Uggla, Y., Lidskog, R., Freedom with what? Interpretations of responsibility in Swedish forestry practice. For. Policy Econ. 75 (2017), 34–40, 10.1016/j.forpol.2016.12.004.
Lawrence, A., Beyond the second generation: towards adaptiveness in participatory forest management. CAB Rev.: Perspect. Agric. Vet. Sci. Nutr. Nat. Resour. 2 (2007), 1–15, 10.1079/PAVSNNR20072028.
Legrand, P., John Henry Merryman and comparative legal studies: a dialogue. J. Comp. Law 47 (1999), 3–66, 10.2307/840997.
Leipold, S., Sotirov, M., Frei, T., Winkel, G., Protecting first world markets and third world nature: the politics of illegal logging in Australia, the European Union and the United States. Glob. Environ. Change 39 (2016), 294–304, 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.06.005.
Levy-Carciente, S., The International Property Rights Index. Property Rights Alliance. 2016 Available at http://internationalpropertyrightsindex.org/.
Lindner, M., Maroschek, M., Netherer, S., Kremer, A., Barbati, A., Garcia-Gonzalo, J., Seidl, R., Delzon, S., Corona, P., Kolström, M., Climate change impacts, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of European forest ecosystems. For. Ecol. Manage. 259 (2010), 698–709, 10.1016/j.foreco.2009.09.023.
Lockie, S., Market instruments, ecosystem services, and property rights: assumptions and conditions for sustained social and ecological benefits. Land Use Policy 31 (2013), 90–98, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.08.010.
Mermet, L., Farcy, C., Contexts and concepts of forest planning in a diverse and contradictory world. For. Policy Econ. 13 (2011), 361–365, 10.1016/j.forpol.2011.03.006.
Miller, T., Kim, A.B., Holmes, K., 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. 2015, The Heritage Foundation, Washington DC.
Mori, A.S., Lertzman, K.P., Gustafsson, L., Biodiversity and ecosystem services in forest ecosystems: a research agenda for applied forest ecology. J. Appl. Ecol. 54 (2016), 12–27, 10.1111/1365-2664.12669.
Mungiu-Pippidi, A., The time has come for evidence-based anticorruption. Nat. Hum. Behav., 1, 2017, 0011.
Nichiforel, L., Schanz, H., Property rights distribution and entrepreneurial rent-seeking in Romanian forestry: a perspective of private forest owners. Eur. J. For. Res. 130 (2011), 369–381, 10.1007/s10342-009-0337-8.
North, D.C., Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. 1990, Cambridge University Press.
Pattberg, P., The institutionalization of private governance: how business and nonprofit organizations agree on transnational rules. Governance 18 (2005), 589–610, 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2005.00293.x.
Pukall, K., Dobler, G., Discoursive struggles over the handling of forests-analysis of historical and actual discourses with relevance for forest legislation. Allg. Forst- Jagdztg. 186 (2015), 187–202.
RRI, What Rights? A Comparative Analysis of Developing Countries’ National Legislation on Community and Indigenous Peoples’ Forest Tenure Rights. 2012, Rights and Resources Initiative, Washington DC.
Rogge, N., Undesirable specialization in the construction of composite policy indicators: the environmental performance index. Ecol. Indicators 23 (2012), 143–154, 10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.03.020.
Rossiter, J.R., Measurement for the Social Sciences: The C-OAR-SE Method and Why It Must Replace Psychometrics. 2010, Springer Science & Business Media.
Schlager, E., Ostrom, E., Property-rights regimes and natural resources: a conceptual analysis. Land Econ., 1992, 249–262, 10.2307/3146375.
Schmithüsen, F., Hirsch, F., Private Forest Ownership in Europe. 2010, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe & Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Geneva pp.314.
Sotirov, M., Lovric, M., Winkel, G., Symbolic transformation of environmental governance: implementation of EU biodiversity policy in Bulgaria and Croatia between Europeanization and domestic politics. Environ. Plann. C: Govt. Pol. 33 (2015), 986–1004.
Stupak, I., Asikainen, A., Jonsell, M., Karltun, E., Lunnan, A., Mizaraitė D., Pasanen, K., Pärn, H., Raulund-Rasmussen, K., Röser, D., Sustainable utilisation of forest biomass for energy—possibilities and problems: policy, legislation, certification, and recommendations and guidelines in the Nordic, Baltic, and other European countries. Biomass Bioenergy 31 (2007), 666–684, 10.1016/j.biombioe.2007.06.012.
The Heritage Foundation, Index of Economic Freedom. 2017 Available at http://www.heritage.org/index/.
UNDP, Human Development Report 2016., 2016, United Nations Development Programme, New York.
Vatn, A., Rationality, institutions and environmental policy. Ecol. Econ. 55 (2005), 203–217, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.001.
Vedel, S.E., Jacobsen, J.B., Thorsen, B.J., Forest owners’ willingness to accept contracts for ecosystem service provision is sensitive to additionality. Ecol. Econ. 113 (2015), 15–24, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.02.014.
Voigt, S., How (not) to measure institutions. J. Inst. Econ. 9 (2013), 1–26 10.1017/S1744137412000148.
Winkel, G., Kaphengst, T., Herbert, S., Robaey, Z., Rosenkranz, L., Sotirov, M., EU policy options for the protection of European forests against harmful impacts. Part of the tender: implementation of the EU forestry strategy: how to protect EU forests against harmful impacts. Tech. Rep. No. OJ 2008/S 112–149606, 2009 pp.142.
Winkel, G., Aggestam, F., Sotirov, M., Weiss, G., et al. Forest policy in the European Union. Pülzl, (eds.) European Forest Governance: Issues as Stake and the Way Forward, 2013, European Forest Institute, 52–63.
Winkel, G., Blondet, M., Borrass, L., Frei, T., Geitzenauer, M., Gruppe, A., Jump, A., de Koning, J., Sotirov, M., Weiss, G., The implementation of Natura 2000 in forests: a trans-and interdisciplinary assessment of challenges and choices. Environ. Sci. Policy 52 (2015), 23–32, 10.1016/j.envsci.2015.04.018.
Zhang, D., Payments for forest-based environmental services: a close look. For. Policy Econ. 72 (2016), 78–84, 10.1016/j.forpol.2016.06.017.
Zhou, P., Ang, B., Poh, K., Comparing aggregating methods for constructing the composite environmental index: an objective measure. Ecol. Econ. 59 (2006), 305–311, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.10.018.
Živojinović I., Weiss, G., Lidestav, G., Feliciano, D., Hujala, T., Dobšinská Z., Lawrence, A., Nybakk, E., Quiroga, S., Schraml, U., Forest Land Ownership Change in Europe. COST Action FP1201 FACESMAP Country Reports., 2015, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) p. 693.
