Designing better support for forest owners: business models & policy tools for sustainability

This workshop, organised by EFI in the context of the PRUDENT project,  is a practical and participatory discussion about what would actually work in Finland in the field of sustainable forest management. Together, we will explore better ways to organise support, cooperation, services, market opportunities and policy tools so that sustainable practices can be realistic, fair and useful in everyday conditions.

In the first part of the workshop, we will share with you our understanding, based on previous workshops in all use case regions and on the analysis of the outcomes of those workshops, of how business practices and social innovations that change the way in which business actors in agrifood and forestry value chains can be either an obstacle or a leverage for making more sustainable agrifood and forest systems more realistic, achievable and rewarding. Then we will moderate a workshop with you where we will investigate how either the removal of business practices that form an obstacle to more sustainable forestry systems or the addition of business practices that could leverage more sustainable forestry systems would work in the supply chains and sectors that you are most familiar with. The intended end results would be a set of recommendations regarding business practices and social innovations that could be implemented in your sector/supply chain.

In the second part of our workshop, we will share with you a set of initial policy insights on integrating green nudges into future forest policies that we have put together based on PRUDENT’s evidence so far. These insights are organised around three themes. 

• The first is about understanding why sustainable practices are sometimes adopted and sometimes not. For example, we have found that farmers or forest owners are much more likely to change a practice when a trusted advisor or peer recommends it than when they receive a general information campaign, but this seems to vary significantly depending on the type of farming and the country. 
• The second theme is about policy instruments and how they could be better designed. For instance, whether forest advisory services could be adapted to make it easier and more worthwhile for foresters to do things differently. 
• The third theme concerns the rules and processes that need to be in place for any of this to work fairly and durably such as who is responsible for designing these interventions, how forest owners should be involved in that process, and how to make sure no one is left behind.

We want you to tell us whether what we have found makes sense in your context, where we have it wrong, and what we are missing. This is exactly what research projects like PRUDENT are here to do: to ensure that the policies being shaped at the European/national level are built on real knowledge from the people who live and work with them every day.

Why participate?

• Make your voice heard on what is useful and fair for forest owners in Finland.
• Exchange experiences with other forest owners and advisors facing similar challenges.

 Who can participate?

We welcome forest owners, foresters, policy makers, local authorities, advisors, cooperatives, industry and market actors, investors, researchers, consumers, networks and organisations interested in practical solutions for more sustainable farming and forestry.

What is the PRUDENT project?

PRUDENT is an EU-funded project working with farmers, forest owners, advisors and other stakeholders in Finland, Lithuania, Belgium and Italy. It explores how practical support, incentives, cooperation models and green nudging approaches can encourage sustainable farming and forestry in fair and useful ways.

For questions or additional information, please contact Michael den Herder (michael.denherder@efi.int)