New PhD student integrates social values into forestry

What do Swedes think is an appealing forest? And how do we ensure that a managed forest is also a popular place for recreation? In the autumn of 2024, Victor Göransson began his doctoral project which is all about including social values in decision support for forest planning.

Hi there Victor! Congratulations on your doctoral position at SLU, which is partly funded by Mistra Digital Forest. What is your research about?

- I'm investigating how we can measure people's experience of the forest in a relevant way. The goal is to integrate the assessment of social values into Heureka, a decision support tool that currently takes into account perspectives such as finances and biodiversity in forest planning. Currently, there is an index that describes social values with parameters such as tree age, size and tree species, but there is no scientific basis for how well it captures our experience. I now aim to find this out.

How are you going about it?

- In a survey, 6,500 participants will be asked to describe their experience of different forest areas, based on short film sequences. From their answers, we can evaluate whether the social value parameters we currently have are sufficient, or whether they need to be replaced and/or supplemented. I am only looking at parameters that are directly affected by forest management, such as stem density and stand age. In order to get the full picture, in future projects we need to find out - among other things - how elements such as lakes and trails, which are important for social values, can be included in the assessment.

Why are you doing this research?

- I am interested in the importance of forests for our physical and mental well-being. When I wrote my master's thesis on the social values of forests, I realised that people's perceptions of what constitutes an appealing forest vary widely. I want to see if it is possible to identify the values that most people share, and to make them measurable in a consistent way. Some things are already quite clear, such as our dislike of clear-cuts and dense young forests.

How great an interest is there in integrating social values into forestry?

- It's huge, I am quite overwhelmed! Many people see this as an important perspective for minimising conflicting objectives in the forest, and for understanding how different values interact. One interesting example is the view of dead wood as an important parameter for biodiversity. In the 1970s, it was perceived as an ‘ugly’ feature of the forest; today, dead wood is seen positively by many. The interaction between different values is complex, and it changes over time.