In countries where private forest ownership prevails, wood mobilisation largely depends on the interest and commitment of private forest owners (PFOs) to manage their forests. In Slovenia, where 77% of forests are privately owned but insufficiently managed, this issue is particularly important. Governments not only in Slovenia, but also in other EU countries, have responded to this challenge of wood mobilisation by proposing various policy instruments, addressing the importance of PFO business cooperation both among themselves and with forest service providers. This study aims to find out: 1) whether there is a potential for business cooperation among PFOs; 2) which of the existing business organisational forms are appropriate for PFOs and 3) how property characteristics, forest management activity, forest management objectives and PFOs’ socio-demographic and economic characteristics influence PFOs readiness to engage into business cooperation. Based on the results, policy recommendations were developed to increase the share of PFO cooperating in business organisational forms in Slovenia. An online survey conducted in March and April 2022 among randomly selected Slovenian households owning forests provided data for two logistic regression models. The results show that PFOs are in general ready to engage in business cooperation; however, according to them, none of the currently existing forms of business cooperation is considered as very appropriate. The model »cooperation with other PFOs in business organisational forms« suggests that PFOs readiness to engage is influenced by forest management objectives related to carbon sequestration, wood and biomass production for personal use and for the market, as well as preserving forests as an investment for the future, PFO age and level of education. The model »cooperation with forest service providers« shows that PFOs readiness to engage is influenced by forest management objectives related to biodiversity conservation and wood and biomass production for personal use and for the market, as well as by PFO level of education. To motivate PFOs to engage into business cooperation, forest policy decision makers must take a holistic transformation of forest policy. To achieve the desired forest policy outcomes, the transformation should incorporate innovative and supportive policy instruments.
Uhan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.