Stakeholder perspectives about proper participation for Regional Forest Programmes in Finland

Published Date
March 2010, Vol.12(3):213–222, doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2009.10.006

Author 

A. Kangas ^a,,

N. Saarinen ^a,

H. Saarikoski ^b,

L.A. Leskinen ^c,

T. Hujala ^c,

J. Tikkanen ^d,

aDepartment of Forest Resource Management, P.O. BOX 27, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

bThe Finnish Environmental Research Institute, Oulu unit, P.O. BOX 413, 90014 Oulu University, Finland

cFinnish Forest Research Institute/Joensuu Unit, P.O. BOX 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland

• dOulu Applied University, Unit of Natural Resources, Metsäkouluntie 4-6, 90650 Oulu, Finland

Received 17 October 2008. Revised 17 August 2009. Accepted 28 October 2009. Available online 24 November 2009. 

Abstract

Participation is seen as an important aspect of sustainable forest management (SFM). Especially important are the policy processes, where the effectiveness of the policy is determined by the commitment of the stakeholders to the selected policy. There are, however, different opinions as to what constitutes a successful participatory process. In this study, we analysed the stakeholder perspectives about proper participation process in Regional Forest Programme preparation in Finland using Q-methodology. We found four different perspectives: pragmatic consensus-seekers, reformers, expertise-oriented actors and participation sceptics. The pragmatists seek for consensus, but purely on traditional forestry issues. The reformers, on the other hand, wanted to introduce other aspects into the process and opposed the dominant position of the traditional forestry network in the RFP process. The expertise-oriented group was ready to discuss different aspects, but wanted to promote the power of experts. The sceptics wanted to allocate the minimum effort to participation. The results suggest that framing and organizing the process, reaching commitment, roles of different information, and the ways of taking into account the views of general public should be emphasized in future RFP's.

Keywords

Commitment

Consensus

Public participation

Finland

Forest policy

Framing

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author.

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