Swedish Forests in the Bioeconomy: Stories from the National Forest Program

Abstract

The concept of a bioeconomy has been placed central in formation of a Swedish National Forest Program (NFP). Drawing on Hajer's conceptual framework of storylines, we present a discourse analysis of the working group reports underlying the establishment of the NFP strategy. We ask what stories about Swedish forests come to dominate the NFP process, how well they reflect the commitment of balancing economic, social and environmental interests, and what role the concept of a bioeconomy, has on the formation of these stories. Storylines of Swedish forests in the bioeconomy unite wider European discourses on the bioeconomy and climate change with historical Swedish forest policy discourses, revitalizing a discourse coalition comprising the state and the industry. Particular to the Swedish discourse is the strong emphasis on creating consensus around a single story of the forest-based bioeconomy.

Keywords

Bioeconomy; climate change; forest; Hajer; storyline

Published in

Society and Natural Resources
2020, volume: 33, number: 7, pages: 896-913
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC

SLU Authors

• Fischer, Klara

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Stenius, Tove

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Holmgren, Sara

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG13 Climate action

UKÄ Subject classification

Economics

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2020.1725202

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/104760