Forestry and rural development in Europe an

							Elements and procedural requirements of national forest programmes

Project period: 1998-2003
Researchers:    prof. dr. H. Schanz and other researchers from European countries, USA,
                Canada and Japan
                Prof. Dr. Peter Glück (chairman), Agricultural University of Vienna (BOKU),
Conducted with: Austria; Dr. Heikki Pajuoja (vice-chairman), Helsinki Research Centre of the
                Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla), Finland; Prof. Dr. Willi Zimmermann
                (chairman of Working Group 2), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH-
                Zurich, Switzerland
Funded by:      European Commission, COST Programme
Keywords        National forest programmes, policy planning, policy co-ordination, institutions,
                procedures

Project description:
The call for national forest programmes (NFPs) has been recurring during international
deliberations on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types
of forests. Since the adoption of Agenda 21 at the 1992 UNCED Summit, the characteristics of
NFPs have been elaborated in a generic way within the international forest policy dialogue as well
as in other initiatives at various regional levels. The characteric elements as given in the political
processes prescribe an adaptive, holistic and integrated policy approach and propagate an ideal
democratic approach to planning processes. However vague their description may be, the
underlying ideas of NFPs are essentially based on the theoretical characteristics of policy planning
and policy co-ordination, though not on the erroneous expectations and developments of policy
planning of the mid-1960s and 1970s but on the modern paradigm of policy co-ordination. The
scientific work programme of Working Group 1 within the Action focuses on specification of the
elements and procedural requirements of NFPs.

Publications
 Glück, P., G. Oesten, H. Schanz & K.-R. Volz (Eds.) (1999). Formulation and Implementation
   of National Forest Programmes. Proceedings of the international seminar held in Freiburg,
   Germany, 18-20 May 1998. European Forest Institute (EFI) – Proceedings No. 30, Joensuu.
   Volume I – Theoretical Aspects; 296p.; Volume II – State of the Art in Europe; 308p.;
   Volume III –International Experiences; 137pp.
 Schanz, H. (2000). National forest programmes in a scientific perspective. In: Ministerial
   Conference on The Protection of Forests in Europe – Liaison Unit Vienna (ed.): The Role of
   National Forest Programmes in the Pan-European Context. Proceedings of the workshop on
   the role on national forest programmes in Europe, September 14-16 in Tulln/Austria.
   Vienna:15-20.
 Schanz, H. (2001). National Forest Programmes in a comparative European perspective. In:
   Glück, P., E. Rojas-Briales, J.M. Solano Lopez, H. Schanz & W. Zimmermann (eds.) 2001:
   Policy planning - the theoretical dimensions of National Forest Programmes. Proceedings of
   the 1st. COST-E19 Scientific Seminar, Madrid, 19th-21st October 2000. Madrid, Spain: 21-35
   (electronic version downloadable at http://www.metla.fi/eu/cost/e19/sempro00.pdf).

Other information
For more information go to > COST-Action E19 and WG1.
Other researchers from European countries, USA, Canada and Japan.