Co-creating advisory services and planning for diversified management in Swedish family forestry, Co-Creator

The demand for diversified forestry in Sweden is widely acknowledged, but its realisation is lagging, highlighting the need for substantive changes in implementation.

Our project will promote diversified management that better matches forest family owners’ needs and societal goals, by enhancing procedures for forest advisory services and planning.

Key objectives to this end are to: (i) investigate how forest owners acquire and create knowledge about alternative management methods; (ii) examine ways to make systemic improvements in forest advisory services to promote diversified forest management; and (iii) pilot enhanced procedures in forest planning that better match owners’ goals and promotes forestry diversification.

Guided by theory of knowledge management, the project will scrutinise the social knowledge systems, involving forest owners, planners, public and private advisors, entrepreneurs and other actors in local forestry networks.

The project is strongly oriented to practical application and involves knowledge co-creation between science and practice.

Project outputs, such as prototype forest management plans and training modules for forest advisors and planners will be piloted during the duration of the project.

This will serve the institutionalisation of enhanced advisory services and planning at relevant organisations such as the Swedish Forest Agency (SFA) and forest owner association Södra, securing lasting impacts of the project.