Now the forests are of value - An everyday historical political ecology from southern Sweden

Summary, in English

Boreal and temperate forests have been greatly affected by clear-cutting. Alternative management systems, such as continuous cover forestry and selective logging, have remained secondary to the dominant even-aged management regime. This regime has its roots in scientific forest management, whose dissemination and development have been well described. But the experiences of rural communities living in the landscapes affected by this large transformation have received less attention. Drawing on archival material from the 1960's in southern rural Sweden, the purpose of the current study is to understand how the introduction of the scientific forest management ideal was perceived and explained among rural residents. Based on a landscape of power-framework, I analyse rural resistance to and accommodation of the new forest management regime. Over the covered period from 1850's to the 1960's, the respondents describe a change in how forests were valued. This change was a result of the dominating views on forests as part of Swedish nation building, of industrial development, and land reforms. Through the introduction of advisory services, educational activities, and new regulations, certain types of forest use were promoted. The study contributes by showing rich insights into how the practices of scientific forestry were contested yet accommodated. This gives context to the roles of power and values in paving the way for the model of rotation forestry to become hegemonic. This may, in turn, contribute to understanding what hinders and enables current alternative policy pathways.

• Author: Hanna Ekström Pigot
• Department/s: Department of Political Science; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate; Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC); LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (MGeo)
• Publishing year: 2026-05
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Forest Policy and Economics
• Volume: 186
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2026.103778
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Political Science (excluding Peace and Conflict Studies); Social and Economic Geography
• Keywords: skog; markägare; skogspolitik; landsbygd; landscapes of power; forest management
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1389-9341