The Swedish landscape is to a large extent dominated by forest, and we Swedish people are also known for our close relationship with the forest. In spite of this, the forest and its utilisation are seldom taken into consideration when the development of rural areas is discussed. Nor the fact that there are a quarter of a million forest property units with 350,000 forest owners who are engaged in an economic activity that has given the management of a forest a position as a rural industry and as a central resource for rural enterprise.
Forestry at a distance
One important explanation is that forestry, even the small scale family forestry, has for a long time been incorporated into the logic and logistics of industrialised forestry. Today, more than 80 per cent of all felling is performed by large scale methods. Even though a large proportion of forestry conservation is carried out by forest owners themselves, there is great dependence on the techniques and infrastructure of large scale forestry. Thanks to the service facilities offered by forestry companies, forest owner associations and the Swedish Board of Forestry, it is also relatively easy to have one's forest managed through others and at a distance.
In other words, forest owners and also the forestry organisations have adapted to developments in society (such as urbanisation and mechanisation). It may be said that among both forest owners and industralised forestry there has been mutual adaptation to developments in society (such as urbanisation, professionalisation, rationalisation) and the taxation system has also been designed so as to favour timber production. A forest property, in the normal case, is therefore no longer the base for the work and income of the forest owner household but has been reduced to a source of additional income from passive economic activity.
In the light of this, there are also people who are of the opinion that family forestry no longer has any appreciable significance for the countryside and the local economy.
The potential of family forestry
On the other hand, in view of the fact that the regulations and structures which encumber family forestry are changeable and are affected by the expectations of society, it is also fruitful to think of the potential which family forestry represents. In step with the decrease in the role of the forest as timber producer relative to other functions and interests such as recreation, biodiversity, function as a carbon sink and so on, new opportunites present themselves for small scale, labour intensive, production of goods and services. At the same time, there is a need to re-assess the opportunities for income producing commercial activities that can be created with a forest property. What we must rather ask ourselves today is who are the people who want to be players and entrepreneurs in such a small scale market? How can the women – not only men – who own forest properties see business opportunities in forest management? And what measures are needed to produce a profitable yield of goods and services where public utility and private profit can be combined?
New research project
This is the point of departure for an interdisciplinary research project (financed by Formas) which will soon commence at the Forestry Faculty of Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SLU in Umeå. The project will investigate the biological and institutional obstacles and opportunities in various types of business activity based on small forest properties in family forestry, and the importance of these for the local economy.
Traditional timber production will be compared with the production of new goods and services such as hunting, fishing and green rehabilitation. The interaction within and among the social practices which are created and structured by formal and informal institutions will be examined for each type of activity. The gender system which is today highly evident in the traditional timber management is assumed to be less clear or transformed in the "new" activities. These activities are however assumed to be subject to other types of obstacles in the local communities where status and identity are still characterised by timber production. Significance for the local economy will be examined in relation to the municipality as an administrative unit, while the significance of, and for, the individual company will be seen in relation to status and identity.
In the project, political scientists, forest managers, vegetation and wildlife ecologists will collaborate on a number of issues.
Different types of economic activities
What interest is there in family forestry to develop different types of economic activity with the forest property as its base? For the typical forest owner household, this base comprises a forest holding of ca 50 ha productive forest land, 10 ha uncultivable land, and 3 ha water. It is also a production unit with average timber sales amounting to SEK 50,000 annually in round numbers and a capital (represented by the forest) in the order of MSEK 1. In many cases there are also agricultural buildings and mechanical equipment with a low degree of utilisation.
Hunting, fishing and green rehabilitation
What are the ecological possibilities and limitations in the form of wildlife, fish and recreational environments and how can these be commercialised within the framework of small scale hunting tourism, green rehabilitation? As regards timber production, there are already well developed production models available, and also knowledge of how values are created and reach an estabished market, but, for the alternative production of goods and services, there is little knowledge and the "tools" are underdeveloped.
Social scope
When it comes to choosing the level and focus of production – what is the significance of the identity of the forest owner and his/her feel for ownership and status? What is the signicifance of the prevalent gender system, and is there also an urban-rural dimension that is linked to the type of production chosen? For the owner household, the property represents a large number of values other than timber and land values.
Other values in the form of benefits which the owner household itself can consume, firewood, hunting and fishing, berries and mushrooms, recreation, the opportunity to keep contact with relations, friends and one's childhood environment, and the opportunity to preserve a farming tradition, are for many people more important than income from the forest. Earlier research also shows that the women place at least as much, or even greater, value on these benefits as the men. It is evident that the property constitutes a physical and social space that provides opportunities for creating/preserving a desirable lifestyle or life form. The forest property may also be seen as a real and mental base for recreating the ideal of self sufficiency, perhaps as an independent businessman, and as an arena where one's identity is created in relation to the local community and forestry. All in all, it is an arena or field where male/female relationships are (re)created as a result of the division of work and inheritance positions, and also by the regulations which society has set up for property rights, property transfer and taxation. This field may be likened to a cobweb that forms a complex and composite structure which exhibits both a remarkable staying power and also good adaptability.
Global and local effects
What role is played by overarching structural changes such as globalisation of goods, services, labour, knowledge, policies and value judgments for decisions on the orientation of production at property unit level? What does it mean in the form of opportunities and risks? And, last but not least, how is the local community affected, economically, socially and culturally, by the type of production orientation selected?
Generally speaking, it may be assumed that the vulnerability of a company decreases as production becomes more diversified (not only timber). At the same time, we know that small companies are to a high degree dependent on local networks and social capital. Developing new activities which imply commercialisation of things that traditionally (and locally) are regarded as free benefits may certainly create new employment opportunities, but may at the same time impose restrictions on what the local population considers to be self evident ingredients of the good life in the countryside.
Author
:
Gun Lidestav
is assistant professor in forest management and is in charge of the competence area Forest land studies at the Faculty of Forest Sciences, SLU, Umeå.
Literature:
Lidestav, G. & Nordfjell, T. 2005. A Conceptual Model for Understanding Social Practices in Family Forestry. Small-Scale Forest Economics Management and Policy, 4:391 – 408. Holmgren, L., Lidestav, G. & Nyquist, S. 2005.
Taxation and Investment Implications of Non-Industrial Private Forestry within a Boreal Swedish Municipality. Small-scale Forest Economics Management and Policy, 4:35-51.
Thellbro, C. & Lidestav, G. 2008. Commercial activities in a local natural resource dependency perspective. Faculty of Forestry. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå. 19 p. Studia forestalia Suecica, ISSN 0039-3150; 216 ISBN: 978-91-85911-53-0.
Lidestav, G. 2008. Manlig normer – en hämsko för landsbygden? Skall hela Sverige leva? (Male norms – a drawback for rural areas? Shall the whole of Sweden prosper? (In Swedish). Formar Fokuserar, pp 263-274.