Decision-Making for Future Forests

Trust, evidence, and future forests

Controversial knowledge in the context of uncertain futures

Forests are changing in ways we have not seen before, so old answers may no longer work. This project examines how scientists, policymakers, and forest practitioners determine what constitutes reliable knowledge in an uncertain future. It examines where agreement breaks down and how good decisions can still be made.

Spatial planning

Robust decision making for spatial forest planning

Deep climatic and socioeconomic uncertainties make forest planning highly complex. We address this by establishing robustness as a guiding principle, combining spatial optimization with robust decision-making to develop algorithms for the spatial arrangement of ecosystem services. By incorporating the behaviors and incentives of forest owners, we seek to enable adaptive management strategies and transformation pathways that withstand a multitude of possible futures.

Diversity in human nature relationships

Ontological pluralism, embedded practice and adaptation potentials for disputed forest futures

The PhD project investigates contested forest futures in Baden-Württemberg, where initiatives, cooperatives, and new practices of participation challenge forestry institutions. Using ethnographic and arts-based methods, it analyzes how diverse human–nature relationships and ontological pluralism shape decision-making, foresters’ roles, and socio-ecological resilience, linking local practices to global movements. (photo: @monafell161)

Imagining Future Forests

Decision-Making Practices in the Introduction of Contested Tree Species

As climate change increasingly threatens established tree species in the Black Forest — such as spruce, fir, and beech — attention is shifting towards alternative species that may be more resilient under future environmental conditions. Building on ethnographic research, this project explores how ecological characteristics, institutional practices, cultural values, as well as hopes, expectations, and fears about the future interact in shaping discussions about the introduction of new tree species and broader imaginaries of future forests.

Knowledge Barriers – Knowledge Practices

Making Contested Decisions in Everyday Work of Forest Management

The project uses ethnographic methods to understand the knowledge on which decision-making practices in forestry are based. It assumes that tacit, incorporated unquestioned knowledge and related valuations are challenged in times of crisis and radical change, for example due to bark beetle infestations, which clearly demonstrate the effects of climate change, heat, water scarcity and monocultures to those involved in forestry. Drawing on monitoring data from previous years regarding forest stands, beetle infestations and clearings, the project follows well-chosen actors in their daily work as forest owners, managers or administrators, in order to understand established and new knowledge, barriers and practices in future-oriented forest management.