B. J. M. Arts

Wageningen University & Research | WUR · Department of Forest and Nature Conservation Policy

Community forest management (CFM) has become an influential approach in the sustainable use, management, and conservation of forests worldwide. It ranges from community-based self-governance of local village forests to co-management approaches with state forest agencies in public forests. However, analyses show complex relationships between states...

The interest of policymakers in community management of tropical forests is ever growing. Yet, a large research body shows varied levels of success of community conservation initiatives. While policymakers often prioritize legal forest ownership, mostly land titles, consensus exists that success rather depends on a broader set of local institutiona...

Forest certifications (FCs) and community forest management (CFM) are two major forest governance interventions whose aim is to reverse forest degradation and deforestation, while providing socio-economic benefits to the people involved. Despite being applied for more than a quarter of a century, there is a dearth of scientific evidence on the envi...

Climate change affects ecosystems and the well-being of rural households relying on ecosystem services for their livelihoods. The ability to withstand the adverse effects of climate change depends on their livelihood resilience. The relationship between natural resource dependence and livelihood resilience of Indigenous forest households in the Ama...

Many forest-related problems are considered relevant today. One might think of deforestation, illegal logging and biodiversity loss. Yet, many governance initiatives have been initiated to work on their solutions. This Element takes stock of these issues and initiatives by analysing different forest governance modes, shifts and norms, and by studyi...

The traceability of products has become an ever more important topic in global value chains because governments, producers and consumers wish to have in-depth information on the origin, quality, safety and sustainability of the products they regulate, trade or buy. However, traceability systems come with criticisms and challenges. This article desc...

Forests are of major importance to people, providing fundamental ecosystem services (ESs). Increasing the supply of an ES might negatively affect the supply of another ES. For example, increasing game densities might reduce timber production. Such trade-offs among ESs may lead to conflicts between actors interested in prioritizing different ESs. Th...

Relational values reflect the qualities of the relationships between humans and nature, such as care, social bonding, place attachment and spiritual meanings. In this perspective article, we argue that understanding relational values is vital for nature conservation, and we identify how incorporation of these values may function as leverage points...

Within forest governance research, the transfer of power from governmental actors to civil society and market actors has been subject to intense scientific debate. We move forward on this debate by analyzing how ongoing transformations and power shifts in forest governance affect the power relations of actors with interest in various ecosystem serv...

Key Points • There will be trade-offs between SDG 15 and other SDGs resulting from competition for land, but there are also synergies and opportunities. • The principal opportunity of SDG 15 is that it will be recognised and integrated, along with the other SDGs, in all developments. • The main risk is that short-term priorities and a 'business as...

Building upon the perspectives of the policy arrangement approach, this article explores the extent to which forest governance has changed under the two national programs on forest rehabilitation in Vietnam. This article then assesses how these changes have impacted people’s participation in forest rehabilitation and the country’s forest cover for...

This paper focuses on understanding the transformative potential of active citizenship in green space governance. Through an in-depth case study, we show how citizens promoted the redevelopment of a brownfield into a green space, but eventually also contributed towards a broader co-creative shift in local governance. In this process, we highlight h...

Scholars, planners and practitioners worldwide are increasingly recognising that landscape governance is a promising approach for restoring forested landscapes and simultaneously achieving ecological, economic and social objectives. Because of its integrative nature, landscape governance involves actors who restore landscapes while operating in dif...

Whilst ‘REDD’ is the acronym for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, ‘REDD+’ refers to efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, foster conservation, promote the sustainable management of forests, and enhance forest carbon stocks [...]

The implementation of the global programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries, and the role of Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks (REDD+) is lacks a robust financial mechanism and is widely criticized for producing too little positive impact fo...

If forest policies aim to orientate forest owners’ behaviours, some gaps still remain between policy makers’ objectives and forest owners’ final decision. In order to understand where these discrepancies come from, we propose a conceptual framework which analyse forest owners’ decision-making through the combination of four individual logics of act...

In this introduction to the Special Issue, we set out the key definitions, theoretical concepts and analytical dimensions of integrated forest governance. By so doing, we identify and account for the interplay between forest policy integration and integrated forest management as two constituting elements of integrated forest governance. Second, we...

As the climate change problem becomes more eminent, there is more pressure to increase efforts in all sectors and countries. The land-use sector is seen as an option to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and key in achieving a balance in GHG emissions and removals by sinks by 2050, as envisioned in the Paris Agreement. This article presents two...

In early 2014, unprecedentedly heavy rainfall led to a flood in northern lowland Bolivia affecting the livelihoods of thousands of people relying on ecosystem services and climate sensitive sectors for their daily livelihood. Based on a case study of 50 households from indigenous forest communities living in the TCO Tacana I, ex-ante and ex-post ho...

The public justification for nature conservation currently rests on two pillars: hedonic (instrumental) values, and moral values. Yet, these representations appear to do little motivational work in practice; biodiversity continues to decline, and biodiversity policies face a wide implementation gap. In seven EU countries, we studied why people act...

This paper discusses the performance of forest devolution, the major reform in forestry in developing countries over the last two decades. Although this change in forest governance has been studied by many scholars, the impacts of forest devolution and the various ways to measure them are still under discussion. This paper contributes to this discu...

At the end of the 20th century, optimism existed that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can form an integral part in conservation and development strategies. However, there is limited knowledge on how the different stakeholders could relate to the state or to each other in promoting commercialization of NTFPs. Applying the policy network as an ana...

Successfully meeting the mitigation and adaptation targets of the Paris Climate Agreement (PA) will depend on strengthening the ties between forests and agriculture. Climate-smart land use can be achieved by integrating climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and REDD+. The focus on agriculture for food security within a changing climate, and on forests fo...

Understanding complex processes of landscape change is crucial to guide the development of future landscapes and land resources. Through Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, we studied the processes of landscape change of six different environmental zones in Europe. Results show that landscapes are complex systems, with many interactions. Except for one, all r...

Deforestation and forest degradation, especially in the agricultural landscapes, are serious threats to biodiversity conservation and sustainability of the timber industry. Planting trees on farms has been identified as having great potential to increase forest resources from agricultural landscapes. This paper examined farmers’ motivations and beh...

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) has opened up a new global discussion on forest monitoring and carbon accounting in developing countries. We analyze and compare the extent to which the concept of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for REDD+ has become institutionalized in term...

The public justification for nature conservation currently rests on two pillars: hedonic (instrumental) values, and moral values. Yet, these representations appear to do little motivational work in practice; biodiversity continues to decline, and biodiversity policies face a wide implementation gap. In seven EU countries, we studied why people act...

The first part of this chapter discusses some national bioeconomy strategies and country highlights in relation to forests. The second part turns to reviewing and discussing some of the most recent social scientific research focusing on the forest-bioeconomy in Europe.

This article analyzes the variety of governance arrangements in the forest sector by examining the situation in ten European countries. At the national level, governance arrangements in the forest sector are analysed as a specific set of ideas, rules and relationships that shape and steer the decision-making process and determine (i) the policy fra...

The forestry sector is generally transitioning towards becoming more inclusive, responsive and responsible, thus creating an increasingly dynamic professional environment. Many universities are thus broadening the scope of traditional forestry programmes towards a more transdisciplinary paradigm. This paper assesses the transdisciplinary approach u...

A responsive curriculum addresses the changing needs of students, bridging the gap between universal knowledge and theories on one hand and contextual, continuously changing realities of everyday life and the world of work, on the other. Though several higher education institutions appreciate the value of making curriculum responsive, how to do thi...

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) has globally gained support as a strategy to use and manage forest resources while maintaining forest ecosystem services. However, type, relevance, and utilisation of forest ecosystem services vary across eco-regions, countries, and policy implementation pathways. As such, the concept of SFM is subject to a serie...

Landscape approaches have become en vogue in the past couple of decades. Originating from nineteenth-century landscape geography, this renewed popularity since the 1980s is fueled by debates on—among others—nature conservation, landscape restoration, ecosystem services, competing claims on land and resources, sectorial land-use policies, sustainabl...

This report deals with the impact of so-called ‘International Cooperative Initiatives on Biodiversity’ (ICIBs); initiatives of private, non-state actors besides, or with, national governments, and their effects on biodiversity conservation and enhancement on the ground.

The term bioeconomy has been generated as a new discourse in the environmental policy arena. This paper raises three questions: (i) are environmental concerns integrated in the political discourses of bioeconomy and, if so, to what extent?, (ii) in which way is the environment framed in the political discourses of bioeconomy?, and (iii) are environ...

Scholars observe an increased involvement of citizens in green space governance. This paper focuses on green self-governance, in which citizens play a major role in realizing, protecting and/or managing green space. While existing research on green self-governance focuses mostly on specific cases, we aim to contribute towards a large overview via a...

Conflicts between indigenous and local communities, on the one hand, and national protected area administrations on the other are pervasive. A better understanding of these park-people conflicts would assist in suitable policy changes to constructively address them while concurrently pursuing conservation and livelihood goals.. We interviewed 601 p...

Community Forest Management (CFM)—ranging from community-based to co-management regimes—has become an influential approach in the management of forests around the world in the last couple of decades. In response to some of the adverse effects of state forestry and commercial timber production, CFM claims to improve local livelihoods and conserve fo...

We propose that a practice-based approach to environmental policy can help consolidate theoretical understanding of and empirical focus on practices in IPA. Doing so counteracts a tendency to privilege knowledge and discourse in IPA and environmental policy analysis. We draw on multiple strands of practice theory to inform three sensitising concept...

The article assesses the institutional capacity of a devolution policy, namely forest land allocation (FLA) in Vietnam. We applied the governance capacity framework, which is based on the policy arrangement approach, to examine the degree to which the policy enables actors to work together in order to solve collective problems. The findings reveal...

Reconciling productive agricultural practices with nature conservation is not only an ecological challenge, but also a demanding matter of governance. This paper analyses the potential as well as the limitations of various governance arrangements, and explores ways to enhance the governance of nature conservation in agricultural landscapes. We assu...

The European forest-based bioeconomy is affected by a huge number of policy instruments. Different policies affect distinct stages of the forest-based value chain (and its respective sub-sectors) in different ways. Diversification processes, as part of a cross-sectoral bioeconomy, increase this complexity. (i) Several policies address trade-offs be...

Biochar – a carbon-rich product used as a soil conditioner – is among the more recent technologies in environmental governance. In the spirit of ecological modernisation, biochar is claimed to deliver multiple benefits for soil fertility and climate change mitigation. However, biochar has a long history. It was inspired by Terra Preta, a highly fer...

Reconciling productive agricultural practices with nature conservation is not only an ecological challenge, but also a demanding matter of governance. This paper analyses the potential as well as the limitations of various governance arrangements, and explores ways to enhance the governance of nature conservation in agricultural landscapes. We assu...

In the process of implementing EU policy, Member States sometimes introduce new policy instruments in cases where this is not obligatory. To better understand this phenomenon, this paper reviews three cases in which new instruments emerged and develops a methodology to trace back the influence of EU Directives on instrument choice. The method is il...

In the forest sector of Cameroon, policy strategies such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have the potential to contribute to global climate mitigation efforts. Similarly, forests support the adaptation of populations and economies dependent on climate-sensitive sectors including agriculture, fisheries, and en...

The UNFCCC requires REDD+ countries wishing to receive results-based payments to measure, report and verify (MRV) REDD+ impacts; and outlines technical guidelines and good governance requirements for MRV. This article examines institutional effectiveness of REDD+ MRV by assessing countries’ progress in implementing these technical guidelines and go...

Many harvested timber species of tropical forests have not been regenerating sufficiently for future cutting cycles, which can demand the application of post-harvesting silvicultural treatments. This study analyzed the profitability of sawnwood produced through four treatments applied on seedlings and saplings naturally present or planted in loggin...

Natural resource-related conflicts can be extremely destructive and undermine environmental protection. Since the 1990s co-management schemes, whereby the management of resources is shared by public and/or private sector stakeholders, have been a main strategy for reducing these conflicts worldwide. Despite initial high hopes, in recent years co-ma...

Sustainable development (SD) is highlighted in different national strategies as the overarching goal of the shift towards bioeconomy. It promises to address major societal and economic challenges and at the same time to create a more favourable environment. The bioeconomy in itself however cannot be considered as self-evidently sustainable as visio...

Bioeconomy has been identified as a new (meta-)discourse (Pülzl et al., 2014) fueled by different political organizations and at different political levels highlighting sustainable development (SD) as a major goal. Addressing major societal and economic challenges and at the same time create a more favorable environment is promised in different bio...

Agrienvironmental schemes (AES) have been a predominant manifestation of environmental policy Integration in the EU. However, rather than strictly following formal AES policy, farmers across Europe have taken various other initiatives to integrate environmental and agricultural practices. Mostly, these integrative initiatives were based on dynamic...

The field of community-based natural resource management has been receiving growing scientific attention over the past two decades. Most studies, however, focus on investigating institutional designs and outcomes and pay scant attention to how community-based natural resource management arrangements are carried out in practice. Through an in-depth...

Challenges of contemporary forest management are frequently referred to as complex. This article empirically studies complexity in forest management decision-making. In contrast to what is often assumed in the literature, this article starts by assuming that complexity does not just consist of an external descriptive element, but also depends on ho...

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) has heralded new rules for forest measurements in developing countries. REDD+ countries are required to not only Measure, Report and Verify (MRV) REDD+ impacts but also establish National Forest Monitoring Systems to perform MRV. In terms of policy discours...

This article reviews the influence of two specific European Union (EU) laws, the Birds and Habitats Directives, on the choice of national policy instruments by Member States. Both Directives leave the choice for policy instruments to manage the sites designated under the Directives to the Member States. Using path dependency as a leading concept, t...

Over the last two decades, governance has become a central area of research in various disciplines of social sciences. Although scholars widely recognize the importance of governance in sustainable development, the quality of governance and how to measure it in a comprehensive way are still under discussion. In response to this, we developed a fram...

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Deforestation is a widely recognized problem in the Brazilian Amazon. Small farmers play a key role in this process in that they earn their livelihood by ranching and farming. Many studies have addressed the link between deforestation and livelihood strategies adopted by small farmers. Most have focused on advanced monitoring systems, simulation mo...

Biochar, the solid product of pyrolysis, has emerged as a new technology and policy tool to address various environmental challenges (climate change, food production and agricultural waste management). The concept of biochar drew its inspiration from Amazonian practices that had led to the creation of Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE): fertile soils rich...

Climate science is characterized by large uncertainties about the direction, extent and time frame of climate change. Communicating these uncertainties is important for decision making on robust adaptation strategies, but proves to be a challenge for scientists particularly because of the complexity of uncertainties that are part of natural variabi...

SUMMARY Ghana's forests, particularly the timber resources, face an uncertain future, because of high deforestation rate, a rapidly declining timber resource base, rapid population growth and increasing demand for timber. This paper explores the future development of timber resource in Ghana by constructing scenarios and considering options policy-...

A new generation of woodfuel studies focuses on the political dynamics behind access to the woodfuel trade, providing better insights into patterns of inclusion and exclusion and options for resource management. Institutional mechanisms that govern access are difficult to untangle in the context of informal trade. This paper analyzes institutions a...

The term bioeconomy and closely related notions like bio-based economy or knowledge-based bioeconomy (KBBE) are increasingly used by scientists and politicians in the last years. It does therefore have the potential of becoming an influential global discourse. Its role is however so far unclear. The general assumption that guides this paper is that...

Sustainable production of the aromatic forest product frankincense is at stake due to rapid decline in its resource base. This affects livelihoods of thousands of citizens and several global industries. A system dynamic model approach is used to predict the future population of Boswellia papyrifera trees and its frankincense yield for three decades...

This paper aims to assess the emergence of the concept of forest governance in the field of forest policy analysis. This assessment is mainly theoretical in nature. The various meanings and main criticisms of forest governance will be dealt with. In so doing, the paper applies the so-called ‘Triple G’ perspective (government, governance, government...

This chapter provides some clarity to the scale debate. It bridges a variety of approaches, definitions and jargons used in various disciplines in order to provide common ground for a concept of scale as a basis for scale-sensitive governance of the environment. The chapter introduces the concept of scale and explains three meanings of scale: scale...

The Netherlands were at the forefront of European nature conservation policy until recently. For years, a stable ‘social contract’ around Dutch nature conservation existed. To the surprise of many, this stability suddenly disappeared and Dutch nature policy has taken a dramatic shift with changing discourses on nature conservation, the halting of i...

This paper analyses the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) certification scheme with a particular focus on its aim to deliver multiple benefits and contribute not only to climate mitigation but also to biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development. To that end, the articles analyses the main storylines underpinning the CCB scheme....

Maatschappelijke partijen moeten toegang krijgen tot besluitvorming over natuur en duurzaamheid. Voor de overheid ligt hier een opgave. Het vraagt om een overheid die niet wegtrekt, maar investeert in de capaciteit van mensen en hen toegang geeft tot netwerken, besluitvorming en uitvoering. Maar ook voor de maatschappelijke partijen liggen er grote...