%0 Articles
%T Kestävyyden tulkinnat metsäkeskusten yhteistoiminnallisissa käytännöissä
%A Leskinen, Leena
%D 2007
%J Dissertationes Forestales
%V 2007
%N 44
%R doi:10.14214/df.44
%U http://dissertationesforestales.fi/article/1832
%X The relationships of collaboration and sustainability in forestry are researched in the study.  The collaborative practices studied were: regional forestry programme processes and regional forest council, forest management planning and extension and wood energy promoting projects. All practices are implemented by the Forestry Centres.

The theory of dynamic complex ecosocial systems was used as heuristic framework. The sustainability is seen as dynamic stability: Sustainable socio-ecological systems have capability to absorb changes and to self-organize. The operational research concept used was "actor-field", where the conditions for the actors' capacity to act are settled down.

When examining the sustainability of forestry, the three factors should be noticed.  First, how define the limits of the particular system. Second, what kind of networks creating tights among both human and non-human actors there are in the system. Third, what kind of interpretations and knowledge claims are supported by the members of the networks.

The actor-field of the regional forestry formed from regional forests, regional forestry organizations and forest owners. For studying the sustainability of forestry, first has to be asked: What are the interpretations as ecosocial disturbances? How to these disturbances are reacted by collaborative practices? In the regional programme process, the relevant interpretations were the shortage of forestry funding, biodiversity maintenance and the overdue pre-commercial thinnings. The interpretations concerning relevant ecosocial disturbances are not only dependent on the scientific validity of the knowledge claims, power relations or successful networks. Also many ideas behind forest management principles defines how issues concerning forestry are discussed. These ideas are maximizing the saw timber production or interpretation that only industrial use of timber is utilization of forests, for example

In forestry it is possible to concentrate in production of saw timber of multiple value chains of forests. The collaboration is a proper practice to promote sustainability in both cases. It is possible to find new solutions to the problems of low profitability of forestry contractors and other small-scale enterprises, for example.