Title page
Contents
ABSTRACT 2
FOREWORD BY UNECE AND FAO 3
FOREWORD BY COST ACTION FACESMAP 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8
LIST OF ACRONYMS 12
CHAPTER 1. OVERVIEW 14
1.1. Introduction 15
1.2. Background and process 15
1.3. The meaning of forest ownership 15
1.4. Geographical patterns in forest ownership 16
1.4.1. Forest ownership and tenure in the ECE region 16
1.4.2. Size of forest properties 18
1.5. Changing ownership in the ECE region 19
1.5.1. Fragmentation 21
1.6. Comparison with global patterns and trends 21
1.7. Forest management 21
1.7.1. Owners' objectives and decisions 21
1.7.2. Forest management outcomes 22
1.8. Forest policy and governance 25
1.8.1. Policy influence on structure of ownership 27
1.8.2. Policy influence on how owners manage forest 28
1.8.3. Forest administration and management 28
1.9. Conclusions 29
1.10. References 31
CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS OF FOREST OWNERSHIP 32
2.1. Introduction 33
2.2. Defining forest ownership 33
2.3. Forest ownership, property rights and tenure 33
2.4. Forest ownership categories 35
2.5. Forest management 36
2.6. Key definitions of forest ownership 37
2.6.1. Public ownership 37
2.6.2. Private ownership 37
2.6.3. Unknown ownership 38
2.7. Additional terms and concepts 38
2.7.1. Formal (statutory) and informal (customary) forest tenure 38
2.7.2. New owners and new ownership types 38
2.7.3. Urbanization and urban forest ownership 39
2.7.4. Privatization and restitution 39
2.7.5. Fragmentation and parcelization 39
2.8. Conclusions 39
2.9. References 41
CHAPTER 3. FOREST OWNERSHIP DISTRIBUTION AND TRENDS 44
3.1. Forest ownership and tenure in the world and the ECE region 45
3.1.1. Introduction 45
3.1.2. Methods and Data 45
3.1.3. Global forest ownership and tenure patterns 46
3.1.4. Forest ownership and tenure in countries outside the ECE region 46
3.1.5. Formal forest tenure 47
3.1.6. Regional patterns and trends 47
3.1.7. Informal forest tenure 49
3.1.8. Forest ownership and tenure in the ECE region 49
3.1.9. Conclusions 54
3.1.10. References 55
3.2. Changes in forest ownership 57
3.2.1. Introduction 57
3.2.2. Methods and Data 57
3.2.3. Forest Ownership Change 59
3.2.4. Changes in the meaning of ownership 63
3.2.5. Changing values or lifestyles 68
3.2.6. Discussion 68
3.2.7. Conclusions 70
3.2.8. References 71
CHAPTER 4. FOREST MANAGEMENT AND BENEFITS 74
4.1. The impact of ownership type on the implementation of forest management 75
4.1.1. Introduction 75
4.1.2. Methods and data 75
4.1.3. Management of public forest land 75
4.1.4. National forests 75
4.1.5. Sub-national forests 76
4.1.6. Local government forests 77
4.1.7. Management of private forest land 78
4.1.8. Availability of wood supply by ownership type 80
4.1.9. Obstacles to sustainable forest management in the ECE region 83
4.1.10. Governance mechanisms for implementation of sustainable forest management in the ECE region 84
4.1.11. Conclusions 85
4.1.12. References 86
4.2. Forest ownership and the provision of wood and other forest ecosystem services 87
4.2.1. Introduction 87
4.2.2. Methods and Data 88
4.2.3. Forest available for wood supply, forest ownership and the production of wood 88
4.2.4. Forest utilization and ownership 92
4.2.5. Other Forest Ecosystem Services (FES) and Ownership 95
4.2.6. Discussion and conclusions 96
4.2.7. References 98
CHAPTER 5. ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE FOREST OWNERSHIP AND TENURE 100
5.1. Policy instruments and legislation to govern forest ownership 101
5.1.1. Introduction 101
5.1.2. Methods and Data 101
5.1.3. Policies addressing forest ownership development 102
5.1.4. Property rights patterns in Europe 104
5.1.5. Policy instruments addressing different ownership situations 106
5.1.6. Regulatory Enforcement 109
5.1.7. Forest certification schemes 110
5.1.8. Conclusions 112
5.1.9. References 113
5.2. Public ownership of forests 115
5.2.1. Introduction 115
5.2.2. Methods and Data 115
5.2.3. Characteristics of public forest ownership 115
5.2.4. Public forests in context 119
5.2.5. Institutional framework for public forests 123
5.2.6. Conclusions 127
5.2.7. References 127
5.3. State Forest Organizations (SFOs) 129
5.3.1. Introduction 129
5.3.2. Methods and Data 130
5.3.3. Representing the interests of publicly-owned forests 132
5.3.4. Supporting forest management 133
5.3.5. Conclusions 137
5.3.6. References 138
5.4. Private forest owners' organizations in the ECE region 140
5.4.1. Introduction 140
5.4.2. Methods and Data 140
5.4.3. Purpose and function of private forest owners' organizations 142
5.4.4. Organizational levels 143
5.4.5. A regional overview 144
5.4.6. FOOs according to types of ownership 145
5.4.7. Activities of private FOOs 147
5.4.8. Conclusions 151
5.4.9. References 153
ANNEX I. CURRENT RESEARCH TOPICS IN FOREST OWNERSHIP IN THE ECE REGION 154
A1-1. Mapping the space between private and public forest ownership in Europe 155
A1-2. Is small a problem? 159
A1-3. Forestry extension and advice-diversity and change across Europe 162
A1-4. Gender by numbers-and beyond 165
A1-5. Municipal forests 169
A1-6. Family forest owner attitudes & values 174
ANNEX II. SOURCE DATA TABLES 178
Table1. Average property sizes for public and private forests, hectares, 2015 19
Table2. Comparison of categories of ownership as defined in the data sets from 2006 and 2016 37
Table3. Changes in forest land 1990-2015, by ownership category 59
Table4. Overall changes in forest ownership in the ECE region, 1990 to 2015 60
Table5. Proportion of certified forest land based on type of forest ownership and country, 2015 111
Table6. Growing stock, growth and drain for public forest 120
Table7. The C&I used to evaluate SFOs 131
Table8. Evaluation example 131
Table9. Cases of two types of State Forest Organizations 133
Table10. Data sources 141
Table11. Activities of forest owners organizations according to ECE sub-regions 148
Figure 1. Forest area owned publicly and privately, 2015 16
Figure 2. Forest area owned publicly and privately, 2015 (omitting the Russian Federation and North America) 17
Figure 3. Distribution of types of public forest-ordered by local then sub-national 17
Figure 4. Distribution of types of private forest ownership categories-ordered by individual/family then by business 18
Figure 5. Distribution of forest area and number of owners by size of holding for 24 UNECE countries 18
Figure 6. Forest area as percentage change from 1990-2015 (a) public (b) private 20
Figure 7. Proportion of public and private forest available for wood supply 23
Figure 8. Change over time of forest available for wood supply (combined total of public and private) 23
Figure 9. Growing stock in public and private forests (thousand m³ per ha of Forest Available for Wood Supply), in those countries that provided data 24
Figure 10. Comparison of net annual increment (m³ per ha), in public (x axis) and private (y axis) forests 25
Figure 11. Forest utilization rate per country, by forest ownership category and year in public forests (green) and private forests (yellow) 26
Figure 12. Comparison of forest utilization rate (fellings as a percentage of net annual increment) in public and private forests, 2015 27
Figure 13. Global forest ownership and breakdown of private holders 46
Figure 14. Regional forest ownership patterns 46
Figure 15. Forest ownership patterns in Latin America 48
Figure 16. Percentage of forest area under public and private forest ownership by country 50
Figure 17. Public forest ownership and management patterns in Europe (excluding the Russian Federation) in hectares and per cent 50
Figure 18. European private forest ownership patterns in hectares and per cent 51
Figure 19. Share of private holdings across size classes and in relation to the total number of private holdings and forest area 51
Figure 20. Changes in private forest ownership with respect to total forest area in selected countries for the 1990 to 2010 and 2010 to 2015 period 52
Figure 21. The relation between society and the individual (adapted from Bhaskar (1998)) 57
Figure 22. Appearance of new forest owners, through afforestation. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of afforestation, in contributing to new forest ownership 62
Figure 23. Change of structure/commercialization of public forest management. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of change within public forest ownership 64
Figure 24. Restitution of forest land. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of restitution, in contributing to change in private forest ownership 64
Figure 25. Privatization of forest land. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of privatization, in contribution to change in private forest ownership 65
Figure 26. Fragmenting forest holdings through inheritance. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of fragmentation, in contributing to changing forest ownership 67
Figure 27. Significance of change in private ownership for the 1990-2000 and 2000-2014 period 67
Figure 28. Changing lifestyle, motivations and attitudes of forest owners. National correspondents' assessment of the significance of changing lifestyle, motivations and attitudes, in contributing to... 69
Figure 29. Representation of public ownership of forest in 30 UNECE countries 76
Figure 30. Assignment of management decision making in public forest, 2010 76
Figure 31. Management decision making in private forest in 21 UNECE countries, 2015 79
Figure 32. Objectives of individual forest owners, 2015 81
Figure 33. Proportion of forest available for wood supply in different ownership categories 82
Figure 34. Distribution of forest area and number of owners by size of holding for 24 UNECE countries 83
Figure 35. Percentage of total forest area available for wood supply 89
Figure 36. Total area of forest available for wood supply, by forest ownership category 89
Figure 37. Area of forest available for wood supply, by forest ownership category and country 90
Figure 38. Growing stock of forest and other wooded land by ownership categories in 2015 91
Figure 39. Annual fellings on forest and other wooded land by ownership categories (1000m³ over bark) in 2015 91
Figure 40. Total wood removals by ownership categories (1000m³ under bark) in 2015 92
Figure 41. Private forest utilization rate per country, by forest ownership category and year 94
Figure 42. Public forest utilization rate per country, by forest ownership category and year 94
Figure 43. Changes in felling rates of the net increment, by forest ownership category, 1990-2015 95
Figure 44. Overview of the property rights distribution in private forestry across Europe 105
Figure 45. Share of certified forest areas from total forests, by certification scheme and country 111
Figure 46. Proportion of public and private forest ownership in ECE region by area, 2010 115
Figure 47. Area of public forest owned at national, sub-national and local levels in the ECE region 117
Figure 48. Proportion of public forest area owned at national, sub-national and local levels in Europe and North America 117
Figure 49. Relative change in public forest area 118
Figure 50. Area and size of public forest holdings in Europe 118
Figure 51. Area of forest holdings by size in France 118
Figure 52. Proportion of public forest available for wood production 119
Figure 53. Areas of responsibility of the main Ministries responsible for forests 125
Figure 54. Venn diagram showing jurisdiction of main Ministry responsible for forestry 125
Figure 55. Constitution of main public forest management organizations 126
Figure 56. 3L Model 130
Figure 57. Performance of State Forest Management Organizations (SFMOs) 135
Figure 58. Performance of Integrated State Forest Organizations (SFIOs) 136
Figure 59. A map of terminology for FOOs in the ECE region 141
Figure 60. Links between FOO and private ownership 145
Boxes
Box 1. Afforestation in Ireland 61
Box 2. Restitution in Slovakia-ongoing process and their implications (Ambrusova et al., 2015) 65
Box 3. Restitution in Canada 66
Box 4. Costs of fragmentation and benefits of consolidation 66
Box 5. Contextualising lifestyle change 68
Box 6. Case study: Forest tenures in Canada 77
Box 7. Case study: Municipal forest in Sweden 78
Box 8. Case study: Management of communal forests in Portugal 79
Box 9. Case study: Emergence of private forest entrepreneurs in Croatia 80
Box 10. Case study: Liberalisation of private forest management in Finland 81
Box 11. Case study-New forest owners in Ireland 84
Box 12. Case study: PES in France 85
Box 13. Categories from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Alcamo et al., 2005) 87
Box 14. The multi-level governance system 102
Box 15. Taxes and forest management 107
Box 16. Policy instruments addressing new forest owners 108
Box 17. Case study: Forest ownership in the Russian Federation 116
Box 18. Case study: A brief history of public forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina 121
Box 19. Case study: Civil society and sales of state-owned forest in the United Kingdom 122
Box 20. Case study: Municipality acquisition of forests in Spain 124
ANNEX Tables
Table A1-1. Summary description of categories of forest ownership which mix characteristics of public and private property in FACESMAP country reports 157
Table A1-2. Main problems and advantages (observed and non-observed) of smallness in FACESMAP Country Reports 159
Table A1-3. New possible advantages for small-scale forestry and emerging forest-owner-driven problems 161
Table A1-4. Summary of current situation, observed trends and examples 163
Table A1-5. Proportion of female primary owners according to the FACESMAP/UNECE/FAO Enquiry (14 countries) and reported in Follo et al. (2017) [the latter in italics] 165
Table A1-6. Publicly-owned forest areas available for wood supply, 1000ha 170
Table A2-1. Area of forest by ownership category, 2015, 1000ha 179
Table A2-2. Change of area of forest by ownership category, 1990-2015, 1000ha 180
Table A2-3. Area of forest properties by size, 2015, 1000ha 181
Table A2-4. Number of forest properties by size, 2015 182
Table A2-5. Growing stock, growth and drain by ownership category, 2015, 1000m³ over bark 183
Table A2-6. Wood removals-volume by ownership category, 1990-2015, 1000m³ under bark 184
Table A2-7. Area and number of public forest holdings by size, 2015, 1000ha 185
Table A2-8. Data on european state forest management organizations (sfmos) for 2016 186
Table A2-9. National level public forest institutions 187
ANNEX Figures
Figure A1-1. Conceptualized space between public and private forest ownership 155
Figure A1-2. Perceptions of small-scale forests in different European countries according to the FACESMAP Country Reports 160
Figure A1-3. Reasons for owning family forestland in the United States 175
ANNEX Boxes
Box A1-1. Case study of the Community of eight Entitled Villages in Witow 156