Governing the Bioeconomy Transition: Actors, values and trade-offs

In the European Union’s (EU) efforts to shift to a bioeconomy, the forest sector has been appointed a central role. The forest sector is expected to contribute with biomass for renewable sources of energy, for sequestering carbon dioxide, and as a provider of employment in rural areas. The increased demand on forest resources following from the bioeconomy transition inevitably involves a balancing of interests, and it is up to each EU member state to define what the bioeconomy means in the national context, making trade-offs between different forest values accordingly. However, there is no single definition or conceptualisation of the bioeconomy and the meanings differ between countries and sectors.

This project focuses on how the bioeconomy is formulated and implemented in the Swedish forest sector, and how different forest values and interests are balanced in the process. Our aim is to visualise how different bioeconomy pathways create different outcomes for different stakeholders groups. This knowledge is of key importance for facilitating governance of the bioeconomy, and for making transparent and legitimate trade-offs between interests following from the bioeconomy transition. 

» Whose transformation is this? Unpacking the ‘apparatus of capture’ in Sweden's bioeconomy
(Article by: Sara Holmgren, Alexandru Giurca, Johanna Johansson, Christoffer Söderlund Kanarp, Tove Stenius & Klara Fischer.)

» Bioeconomy perception by future stakeholders: Hearing from European forestry students.
(Article by Mauro Masiero, Laura Secco, Davide Pettenella. et al.)

» Skogens roll i klimatomställningen – Att välja vägar framåt, Policy brief no. 1 November 2019

» Bioeconomy imaginaries: A review of forest-related social science literature 
(Article by Sara Holmgren, Dalia D’Amato and Alexandru Giurca)

» Swedish Forests in the Bioeconomy: Stories from the National Forest Program
(Article by Klara Fischer, Tove Stenius and Sara Holmgren)