Progressing toward co-management through collaborative learning: forestry and reindeer husbandry in dialogue

With complex common pool resources, it is important to balance the multitude of interests in order to generate a sustainable management regime. This is not the case in the northern parts of Sweden, where forest resources are used for different extractive purposes by forest companies and the reindeer herding industry. In many respects, the present situation represents a classic collective-action problem with a number of reasons why no cooperative behaviour might be expected. This article illuminates the relationship between the two industries in an historical, ecological and institutional perspective in order to explain the limited scope of coordinated action between the two actors. It also, through the use of collaborative learning techniques and scenario methods, explores the possibilities for the two industries to consider each other's needs and to identify strategies for co-existence and co-management. The testing of a broad range of scenarios among a selected group of stakeholders leads to the identification of possibilities for improving the management of the forest and lichen resource by changing institutional arrangements and improving coordination between the stakeholders.