Tree planting: How new state strategies of forest governance, community ownership, and consultation lead to uneven outcomes for communities and places
Embargoed until 2025-05-14
Author
Date
2024Type
- Doctoral Thesis
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Abstract
With a forest cover of 18%, Scotland is one of the least forested countries in Europe. The loss of forest cover in Scotland took place throughout the Middle Ages up until the 19th century, due to iron works, demand for charcoal and tanbark, and industrialization. After the timber shortage of the first world war, the UK government established the Forestry Commission in 1919 with powers to acquire land throughout Britain for securing Timber production. The government also invested in sawmills, processing plants, forestry roads, even housing for forestry workers and families. Since 1919, the forestry sector has experienced dramatic changes – increased mechanization and privatization, greater regulation, increasing public and private investments, changes in global markets for wood products, and most recently, carbon and biodiversity markets. While Scotland struggled to meet its tree planting targets since the 80s, targets were surpassed in 2019, and forestry has been the top-performing asset class in the UK over the past three years. While recent developments in Scotland, as they relate to the growth of the forestry sector, and increase in private investments are celebrated, particularly within the recent global push for forestry and landscape restoration, less attention has been paid to political drivers and impacts of these developments. The objective of this thesis is to shed light on the role of the state in shaping these developments, and examine some of the distributional impacts of those strategies.
Chapter 2 of this thesis is based on examining the changes within the governance of the forestry sector, using approaches from state theory to analyze forestry statistics and data from interviews. I find that forestry in Scotland has seen a shift from traditional state powers to increased regulatory prominence, with the public sector playing a pivotal role in encouraging private sector growth through environmental regulations and incentives. These regulations and incentives have favored certain actors such as larger investors and landowners over others. Furthermore, the push towards natural capital markets and land-based payments could exacerbate existing inequities, especially as large landowners stand to benefit more than local communities. This challenges both the narrative of win-win for businesses and communities, and the idea that the private sector is leading these developments.
Chapter 3 of this thesis examines another important trend within Scotland and several other countries, that of transferring state forests to communities for ownership or management. Through my research, based on forestry statistics and interviews with community woodland groups, and others, I find that instead of isolated occurrences, community woodlands are closely tied to neoliberal policies and austerity. Austerity measures are placing increasing responsibilities on community groups, often overwhelming their resources. The acquisition process for state forests has become more centralized and professionalized, potentially favoring more affluent communities. My findings challenge the transformative potential of Community Woodland groups, suggesting that broader political shifts have created an uneven landscape of community empowerment.
Chapter 4 explores an important tenant of forest and landscape restoration – community engagement. Using approaches from critical planning literature, I analyze recent developments in community consultation and data collected through field research in south of Scotland. I find that community consultation in Scotland for land use decisions is increasingly involving direct negotiations between activists, non-profits, and private entities, bypassing traditional representative institutions. However, the voluntary and open-ended nature of these consultations has led to varying expectations, challenges in transparency, and a lack of consistent governance. Critical research reveals that while forestry companies view consultations as a means to promote benefits, communities expect a more substantial voice in the plans. This discrepancy, combined with the limited scope of discussions, means vital political issues, like land price changes due to increased investments in forestry, remain unaddressed.
The last chapter of this thesis is a conclusion and synthesis of my findings. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000671420Publication status
publishedExternal links
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Contributors
Examiner: Ghazoul, Jaboury
Examiner: Kull, Christian
Examiner: Walters, Gretchen
Examiner: Metzger, Marc
Publisher
ETH ZurichOrganisational unit
03723 - Ghazoul, Jaboury / Ghazoul, Jaboury
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