Ollonqvist, P. 1998. Forest policy and its major actors in Finland
- chronology of the major stages during 1928-1997 and visions
for the future. Metsälehti Kustannus. Helsinki. 301 p. (In Finnish)
Abstract: The book provides insights to handle uncertainty
in the acts of institutional control during the formulation of
the forest policy objective. The targets of ecological and social
sustainability as well as the globalization of World Economy challenge
the current forest policy makers. The history of forest policy
in Finland provides three separate cases where the new policy
objective has been formulated and implemented into forestry practice.
The book contains a comprehensive study of the formulation and
implementation of forest policy in Finland during 1928-1997. The
study covers the whole era of sustainable timber management in
non-industrial private forest tenures. Four separate forest policy
objectives (below in italics) are identified and the focus of
the analysis is in the preparatory acts to transform forest policy
from one objective to another. Progressive forestry replaced sustainable
forestry as a part of growth policy objective of economic policy
during 1950's. The bottom-up principle replaced the top-down implementation
of forest policy when regional and farm level progressive forestry
objective was adopted during the 1980's. The ecological, economic
and social dimensions were adopted into sustainable forestry during
the early 1990's and first stages in the shift of forest policy
towards sustainable timber management is analysed in detail in
the introduction as well as in the conclusions of the book. Economic
development in Finland during 1928-1997, which was heavily dependent
on the international business cycles of forest products and consequently
major forest policy changes are in the book connected to the parallel
changes in macroeconomic policy. Each of the seven decades in
the period has a separate chapter in the book. The grand features
of economic policy are presented in the beginning of each chapter.
The major changes of forest policy as well as those of timber
market are analysed in detail. The analyses of the technical development
of roundwood logging and hauling logistics conclude each chapter.
In addition, a short presentation of the expansion in the forest
industry owned by the co-operative association of farmers and
forest owners is attached.
The book has nine chapters as follows: 1. Forest Policy in Finland;
2. World Depression and Recovery 1928-38; 3. Public Rationing
of War Economy 1939-47; 4. Policy of Industrial Public Subsidies
Substitute Rationing 1948-57; 5. Policy for Sustainable Economic
Growth 1958-67; 6. Income Policy Era 1968-77; 7. Income Contracts
and Stable Growth 1978-87; 8. Internationalization and Breakthrough
of Sustainable Forest Management 1988-97; 9. Lessons from the
Past - Grand Forest Policy Objectives of Sustainable Timber Management
1928-97
Keywords: Forest policy, Institutional economics, Institutional
management, Finland
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