An Empirically Based Typology of Private Forest Owners in Denmark: Improving Communication Between Authorities and Owners

Abstract

For policy instruments to be effective, they should motivate forest owners to adjust behaviour in agreement with forest policy objectives. It may therefore be beneficial to know the motivations of private forest owners. Often, forest owners are assumed to constitute an entity, although statistics and structural changes indicate increasing heterogeneity. Instead, forest owners can be divided into types, i.e. groups that include forest owners with similar attitudes, and where attitudes of each group differ from those of other groups. Based on a survey among private forest owners in Denmark, three types of owners were identified: (1) the classic forest owner to whom the forest has economic importance; (2) the hobby owner who enjoys work and recreation in the forest; and (3) the indifferent farmer to whom the different values provided by the forest are equally (un)important. Implications of this typology for forest policy formulation and implementation are discussed.