Towards a European forest policy — Conflicting courses

Published Date
August 2013, Vol.33:87–93, doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2012.06.002
Forest Land Use and Conflict Management: Global Issues and Lessons Learned

Author 

Peter Edwards 

Daniela Kleinschmit ^,

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Products, Box 7008, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden

Received 22 February 2012. Revised 11 June 2012. Accepted 12 June 2012. Available online 17 July 2012. 

Abstract

Over the past several years, at least three different forest policy processes have emerged in the European sphere, two of which are legally binding agreements — one under the auspices of Forest Europe, attempting to negotiate a legally binding agreement; and two, the possibility of a legally binding agreement within the European Union (EU). We aim to identify, reconstruct and classify the major conflicts in both the Commission Green Paper on forest protection and information in the EU: preparing forests for climate change and Forest Europe initiated LBA process. The theoretical framework of this study uses an adapted conflict regulation approach based on the conflict triangle model. Empirically four dimensions are analysed to reconstruct and classify the conflicts: substance, procedure, relationship and discourses around the conflict. Empirical data has been gathered by qualitative document analysis and expert interviews with stakeholders at the national and EU level. The results of the empirical analysis identify three major conflicting interests: a) the subsidiarity principle, b) forest management and c) the responsibility for conducting the negotiations. Classifying these three conflicts into substance and procedural dimensions highlights the major role of the latter within the recent European forest policy processes.

Highlights

► We examine 3 key conflicts in European forest policy processes. ► We use 4 dimensions: substance, procedure, relationship & discourse. ► Procedure plays a major role in European forest policy process conflicts. ► National interests are entrenched in both content and procedure, & hard to overcome.

Keywords

European forest policy

Conflict

Forest Europe

European Union

Interests

Discourses

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  This article belongs to the Special Issue: Forest Land Use and Conflict Management: Global Issues and Lessons Learned.

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