Options for considering private owner objectives in forest management planning - a case study for Slovenia : doctoral dissertation
Možnosti prilagajanja gozdarskega načrtovanja gozdnim posestnikom: vzorčni primer za Slovenijo : doktorska disertacija

english

doktorska dela

2016

Slovenia 

Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta

We studied conceptual and financial options for implementing a forest property plan (FPP) into the forest planning system. By employing multiple quantitative surveys of Slovenian non-industrial private forest owners, we 1) examined how owners (n = 754) conceptualize forest management and resource-efficiency using structural equation modeling; 2) studied owners% (n = 374) decision-making styles using a probabilistic approach while controlling for model-reality consistency and acquiescence bias to account for uncertainties in owner classification; 3) explored owner% (n = 510) willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the FPP using the Heckit econometric model and estimated financial implications for publicly funded forest planning; and 4) analyzed satisfaction with the FPP using semi-structured interviews with the owners (n=11) for which the FPP prototypes have been prepared in the past two decades. We found that 1) owners underuse forest resources not because they object to harvesting, but mostly because of biophysical constraints in the environment; 2) multiobjective owners who consider mainly the extractive value of forests are prime candidates for the FPP; 3) owners are willing to pay for the FPP, and the cost-sharing could significantly reduce public budget expenditures for forest planning; and 4) owners were mostly unsatisfied with the FPP prototypes because of insufficient consideration of their demands. We conclude that owners support the FPP conceptually and financially. Further steps in the implementation of the FPP into practice should take into account the diversity of costumer segments and uncertainty associated with the survey-based research.

13.04.2016