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Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become a popular tool for governing rural development in a European context. PPPs are often presented as significant solutions for increasing both the effectiveness (problem-solving capacity) and the legitimacy of sustainable rural governance in terms of participation and accountability. In Sweden, where PPPs have played a marginal role, due to the EU cohesion policy they are now gaining ground as a model for the governance and management of natural resources in rural areas. Previous research shows that the state remains crucial in governing the process of governance through partnerships, especially in a rural as opposed to an urban context, where the state plays an ongoing role in initiating, structuring, financing and regulating partnerships. Is this an example of the state trying to counterbalance the increased power of the private sector, or the opposite – that is, an attempt to reduce social exclusion and increase participation by promoting the interest of private actors in local development processes? Our study examines the critical role of the state in these partnerships. We focus on authorities in charge of natural resource management and rural development and assess the enabling role of the authorities in rural areas with a weak or dispersed private sector. Empirical data is collected via group interviews at a workshop in which key representatives from the authorities participated. We identify a number of potential challenges associated to PPPs in a rural context, and in light of this we clarify how the authorities engage in different types of partnership arrangements, as well as their capacity to facilitate these partnerships in attempt to enhance sustainable rural development.

Although forestry is not a regulated area in the European Union (EU), numerous decisions in other policy areas are related to forestry. However, its position outside of formal policy-making can result in the fact that actors, such as those within the forest industry, may have a larger role when compared to other policy sectors where the state system has an integrated role. This explorative study reviews the ways in which the forest industry in Sweden, one of the EU states with the most forest land, tries to protect and promote its interests on an EU-level. It concludes that a main way to influence decision-making in the EU is through lobbying, through its own organisations and through the transnational trade association, The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). The study shows that collectively conducted lobbying is largely preferred which means that internal communication is important since lobbying at the EU-level is potentially limited by the diverging positions of trade association members as well as among the different trade associations themselves.

Multiple-use forestry has gained increasing emphasis in forestry discourse in recent years. This article examines how multiple-use forestry has been perceived among Swedish forest actors. Halsey's interpretation on 'modalities of nature' is used to address the tension and relations among various actors and the unfolding processes of becoming. Drawn on semi-structured interviews, we suggest seeing multiple-use forestry as a site for ideas and ideologies to collide, confluence and collaborate. We draw attention to interview materials that address the 'modalities of nature' where vision, naming, speed and affect all contribute to the becoming of multiple-use forestry. We thus show how multiple-use forestry has been used as a political concept and address the potentially creative and constructive relations generated by the forest users.

Governments are investing considerable time and resources in the field of collaborative governance as it proliferates throughout many sectors, and how public officers choose to respond to these developments therefore becomes an important question. The increased public involvement that collaborative governance brings is often more costly than traditional forms of governance, while the outcomes are highly uncertain. For these reasons, it is important that collaborative governance is only used when really warranted, and the various forms that it can take should be carefully designed. In this study, we apply a typology of collaboration strategies to examine firstly, the circumstances under which leading officers at four county administrative boards in the Swedish mountain region decide to lead collaboration, and secondly what collaboration strategies they then apply. This study is based on 20 interviews with key officers, and 39 interviews with project leaders of public-private collaborations in the area of natural resource management in the region. We find that officers should take trust levels into account when designing collaboration strategies, not least the lack of official trust. Strategies are found to be not mutually exclusive but complementary, and officers employ several at the same time. Interestingly, the results of this study show that – somewhat counter-intuitively – distrust is a driver for officers to initiate collaboration, a conclusion which questions the common view that more trust unequivocally translates into more participation.

Governments are investing considerable time and resources in the field of collaborative governance as it proliferates throughout many sectors, and how public officers choose to respond to these developments therefore becomes an important question. The increased public involvement that collaborative governance brings is often more costly than traditional forms of governance, while the outcomes are highly uncertain. For these reasons, it is important that collaborative governance is only used when really warranted, and the various forms that it can take should be carefully designed. In this study, we apply a typology of collaboration strategies to examine firstly, the circumstances under which leading officers at four county administrative boards in the Swedish mountain region decide to lead collaboration, and secondly what collaboration strategies they then apply. This study is based on 20 interviews with key officers, and 39 interviews with project leaders of public-private collaborations in the area of natural resource management in the region. We find that officers should take trust levels into account when designing collaboration strategies, not least the lack of official trust. Strategies are found to be not mutually exclusive but complementary, and officers employ several at the same time. Interestingly, the results of this study show that – somewhat counter-intuitively – distrust is a driver for officers to initiate collaboration, a conclusion which questions the common view that more trust unequivocally translates into more participation.

Governments are investing considerable time and resources in the field of collaborative governance as it proliferates throughout many sectors, and how public officers choose to respond to these developments therefore becomes an important question. The increased public involvement that collaborative governance brings is often more costly than traditional forms of governance, while the outcomes are highly uncertain. For these reasons, it is important that collaborative governance is only used when really warranted, and the various forms that it can take should be carefully designed. In this study, we apply a typology of collaboration strategies to examine firstly, the circumstances under which leading officers at four county administrative boards in the Swedish mountain region decide to lead collaboration, and secondly what collaboration strategies they then apply. This study is based on 20 interviews with key officers, and 39 interviews with project leaders of public-private collaborations in the area of natural resource management in the region. We find that officers should take trust levels into account when designing collaboration strategies, not least the lack of official trust. Strategies are found to be not mutually exclusive but complementary, and officers employ several at the same time. Interestingly, the results of this study show that – somewhat counter-intuitively – distrust is a driver for officers to initiate collaboration, a conclusion which questions the common view that more trust unequivocally translates into more participation.

Mångbruk av skog är ingen ny företeelse i Sverige. Skogen har alltid på olika sätt haft betydelse för människors försörjning. Dagens definition av mångbruk är att skogen används för flera olika syften (t.ex. skogsbruk, naturturism, rennäring, naturvård m.m.) som kan vara kommersiella eller icke-kommersiella. Inom ramen för det nationella skogsprogrammet har frågan om mångbrukets outnyttjade potential aktualiserats. Beroende på vem eller vilka man frågar, och vilken erfarenhet de har av mångbruk, finns det emellertid olika uppfattningar om mångbrukets potential att skapa fler jobb och hållbar tillväxt i hela landet. I den här rapporten syntetiserar vi kunskap om mångbruk av skog baserat på tidigare och nu genomförda studier och kartlägger och analyserar förutsättningarna för att bedriva mångbruk av skog. Utifrån studiens frågeställningar har vi kommit fram till följande slutsatser: • Naturturism är en primär form av mångbruk med utvecklingspotential för jobbskapande på landsbygden. • Även vidareförädling av olika råvaror och äventyrsbaserade aktiviteter har potential att utvecklas inom ramen för mångbruk. • En väl fungerande samhällsinfrastruktur är en viktig förutsättning för alla former av mångbruk som bygger på att verksamheten ska attrahera besökare. • Icke-kommersiella former mångbruk är en självklarhet för många skogsägare. Man anger självhushållning (av främst viltkött, bär och svamp) samt rekreationsbefrämjande åtgärder (som t. ex. att ordna en grillplats för lokalbefolkningen). • Många skogsägare har inte intresse av att utveckla mångbruk på sin mark, men ställer sig ofta positiva till att andra gör det. • Allemansrätten är en central förutsättning för mångbruk, men det är viktigt att upprätta formella avtal vid kommersiell verksamhet på annans mark. • Mångbruk kan ofta bedrivas i skogen oavsett hur den sköts, även om det finns exempel där särskilt trakthyggesbruk kan upplevas som störande. • Det finns potential att utveckla mångbruk i anslutning till skyddade områden - på så sätt skulle mångbruk kunna fungera som en brygga mellan att bruka och bevara skogslandskapet. • Genom att skapa dialogplattformar som möjliggör för olika aktörer att få en holistisk bild av skogslandskapet och dess nyttjande kan olika mångbruksverksamheter bättre utvecklas både parallellt och integrerat. • Mångbrukets utmaningar liknar andra småföretagares utmaningar vad gäller efterlevnaden av komplicerade regelverk som är anpassade till mer storskaliga företag vad gäller till exempel livsmedelshantering. • Därutöver innebär mångbrukets lokalisering till glesbygd att det finns utmaningar med att bedriva säsongsbunden verksamhet och svårigheter med att finna arbetskraft. Dagens skogspolitik främjar i princip mångbruk, men i studierna som denna rapport bygger på framkommer att mångbruksfrågan är sektorsövergripande och att insatser inom exempelvis närings- och landsbygdspolitiken också behövs för att nå mångbrukets fulla potential. Följande slutsatser från rapporten utgör förslag till hur genomförandet av det nationella skogsprogrammets vision och målet "Mångbruk av skog för fler jobb och hållbar tillväxt i hela landet" kan realiseras, och hur målen "Ökad sysselsättning", "Stärkt hållbar tillväxt" och "Landsbygdsutveckling med beaktande av skogens sociala värden" kan uppnås: • Utveckla politik och styrning för mångbruk inom ramen för hållbar landsbygdsutveckling. • Stärk landsbygdens infrastruktur för att möjliggöra mångbruk av skog. • Etablera arenor för samverkan och erfarenhetsutbyte rörande mångbruk. • Sprid kunskap om mångbruk och satsa på entreprenörskap. • Utveckla former för avtal mellan mångFoto: Maria Groth/Mostphotos bruksentreprenörer, markägare och andra rättighetsinnehavare. • Se över om skyddade områden kan öppnas upp för mångbruk. • Förenkla regelverk för landsbygdsföretagande. • Se över möjligheterna till riktade ekonomiska stöd till mångbrukare på landsbygden.

The concept of woodland key habitats is well-established in northern Europe, denoting sites in the forest landscape with particularly high biodiversity. In Sweden, woodland key habitats have been inventoried on individual forest owner's land by the Swedish Forest Agency since 1993. Recently, various actors have questioned the woodland key habitat concept and its policy implications. To investigate how framing of the concept has changed over time we conducted a media analysis based on theories of collective action frames. The analysis covered the period 1991–2018 and a total of 293 articles in daily newspapers. Our results showed that, over time, woodland key habitats have mostly been framed by government agencies, journalists and environmental organizations as suffering as a result of forestry practices and that nature conservation is the solution to this problem. Actors presenting other or conflicting frames are not as common and they occur mostly when the frequency of articles is high. However, it is noteworthy that individual forest owners sometimes framed themselves as suffering economically from the woodland key habitats, which contrasts with the dominant framing. There were no large differences between national and regional newspapers in the framing of woodland key habitats.

Quests for devolving more power to local actors for nature protection stem from both international and national policies. Also, there is a growing recognition of the need for local governments to promote green infrastructure for citizens to recreate and learn about their environment. Starting in 2004, the Swedish government has allocated special funding towards these goals through the Local Nature Conservation Programme (LONA). Virtually all Swedish municipalities have received such funding in pursuit of facilitating wide access to nature and promoting recreational activities, including the protection of nature areas, creating pathways, information devices, and promoting these areas among new societal groups to enjoy. This study presents the results of ten years of experience with LONA. A survey with respondents from 191 municipalities and 20 county administrations, together with 20 key informant interviews, show that the programme has been a success in several respects. Not only have most municipalities created a wealth of new ways to engage local organisations and citizens in nature conservation and recreation, but they have also broadened the ways they think about how nature is important to their constituencies. Due to innovative ways to count voluntary work as local matching of funding, smaller and less resourceful municipalities have also become engaged. Still, the local needs for further initiatives are deemed considerable. State support coupled with knowledge sharing is important to show policy priority to such bottom-up initiatives.

Although hunting served traditionally to supply game meat, and that is still important in Sweden, recreation is the most common reason for hunting moose (Alces alces) today. Hunting also serves an important management purpose in regulating moose populations to control crop and forest damage. This study used semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and officials involved in the recently implemented ecosystem-based, adaptive local moose management system where hunters and landowners become environmental stewards responsible for managing moose in context with forest damage, vehicular collisions, large carnivores, and biodiversity. Our study found that participation and collaboration in reaching management objectives was perceived as positive by stakeholders, although their stewardship is jeopardized if specific management responsibilities are not clarified regarding monitoring. Further, it is important to find long-term funding solutions for monitoring activities that are critical for adequate data collection and to support the stakeholder role as steward. The importance of monitoring must be communicated to individual hunters and landowners to achieve an ecosystem-based moose management system that effectively incorporates both social and ecological values.

Policy formulation refers to how problems identified in the agenda-setting phase transform into government programs. As the process of designing policy alternatives expresses and allocates power among different interests, policy formulation affects both implementation and outcomes. This paper examines the Swedish moose policy of 2010, revealing that the policy portrays the issue of moose as an ecological problem, while motivations for adopting policy measures are largely described in economic terms. Because of this incongruity, the policy may not achieve its goals. Furthermore, implementation principles stemming from different design strategies clash in the attempt to incorporate both local and ecosystem-based levels of management into a single system, leaving the policy implementation with many uncertainties and tensions. To deliver the policy's goal, the government could consider clarifying the operationalization of the ecosystem-based management approach and identifying the prerequisites necessary for building capacity, dealing with strong stakeholders, and ensuring fair representation of key actors. Future research should further explore the consequences of policy imbalances in relation to intended goals, the importance of understanding the rationales and design strategies underpinning implementation principles, and the need to discuss operationalization of EBM in relation to different types of objects of management and to issues of scale.