The third episode of the ForestChats podcast features an engaging conversation between Dr. Hans Verkerk, ForestPaths’ coordinator from the European Forest Institute (EFI), and Dr. Florencia Franzini, senior researcher at EFI. Together, they explore a fundamental question: what drives the decisions of Europe’s forest practitioners and why does it matter? 

In this episode, Franczini explains that understanding decision-making is key to understanding how Europe’s forests evolve. With around 16 million forest owners across the continent, choices made by individuals and institutions directly shape ecosystem services such as timber production, carbon storage and recreation. 

As she puts it, “understanding forest practitioners is about understanding the activities that are happening across European forests… and how these activities may shape and impact the availability of these forest benefits to our society.” 

Drawing on interviews with a diverse range of practitioners, the episode highlights how forest objectives link to provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services. While public and private managers may share similar goals, their motivations differ: public managers tend to prioritise societal benefits and are influenced by organisational factors, while private owners are more influenced by personal values, like economic or environmental objectives. 

One striking insight derived from the interviewees, although not necessarily a proven general trend across Europe, is that nearly all practitioners, regardless of background, aim to keep forests as forests. Even those with little personal connection to their land often resist selling if it risks conversion to agriculture or urban use. 

The discussion also reveals the complexity of decision-making. Choices are shaped by a mix of individual values, governance structures and ecological realities, and often involve trade-offs. Climate change, for instance, is an important driver, prompting adaptations such as introducing more resilient or diverse tree species, even amid uncertainty about future conditions. 

Building on these insights, the episode also introduces a large-scale survey conducted across 13 European countries. The survey aims to go beyond the depth of interviews by capturing broader patterns in decision-making across different regions and practitioner types. Specifically, it seeks to measure how strongly various factors, such as economic incentives, policy frameworks, ecological conditions and personal values drive management choices. 

You can listen to the full episode of ForestChats on Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and YouTube, or find it directly on the ForestPaths website. 

Listen to the first episode on Climate and Biodiversity-Smart forest management here and the second episode on the European Forest Disturbance Atlas here.  

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes as ForestPaths continues to bridge science and policy for a sustainable forest future.