Identifying key actors, barriers and opportunities to lead a transition towards sustainable forest management: an application to the Basque Country, Spain

The forestry sector is essential for achieving a transition towards sustainability because of the opportunities associated with the transformation of their management and practices. However, forest plantation management is characterised not only by ecological interactions but also by the complex dynamics that arise from the interaction of multiple actors, their knowledge and worldviews, and how actors can overcome barriers and lobby for their values and interests to be represented in policies and management. We illustrate this via a case study: the Basque Country in Spain. Drawing on 33 qualitative in-depth semistructured interviews conducted in 2022 and 2023 with a wide variety of forestry actors, we aim to a) identify who the potential actors are that can trigger a change toward sustainable forest management, b) explore actors’ interactions and knowledge interchange that can foster a transformation toward sustainable forest management, and c) understand the opportunities and barriers that the main actors face to achieve sustainable forest plantation management. Our results show that a) those who may have the ability to induce a change in the forestry sector of the Basque Country are landowners, rangers and private sector companies; b) mutual learning happens in the day-to-day practices of forest plantation management while academic knowledge does not reach policy and practice; and c) barriers are related to managerial, political and individual dimensions that impair the way towards “close to nature” management and a “circular bioeconomy”, such as a perceived lack of supporting policies and knowledge, as well as increasing land abandonment. Opportunities to pose a potential way forward are, among others, forest plantations of native species providing high-quality timber, and opening access to additional markets, such as the ones funding the diversity of contributions that forest plantations may bring to people. Collaboration to overcome barriers for small-scale forest plantation management and actions to promote a stronger feeling of attachment to natural forests and forest plantations are essential to achieve sustainable forest management in the Basque Country.