Navigating the Policy Mix: Institutional Frameworks and Governance Mechanisms for climate-resilient forests in Europe

So far, policy mixes have been presented in scholarly literature as viable solutions for addressing complex problems. However, there has been a lack of empirical investigation to date, and even more so in the nature-based sectors that simultaneously advocate for the protection of forests and the production of wood. This is not surprising, as policy mixes include inputs, administrative processes and outputs of all kinds of individual programs and instruments included in such a mix, which appears messy to evaluate. The research explores the empirical reality of European-wide perceptions of institutional factors that aim to regulate climate adaptation, mitigation, restoration, protection, and wood production for both energetic and material uses. In order to investigate how the policy mix can be navigated, we focus methodologically on the perspectives of a selected target group of forestry stakeholders across regional case studies and European as well as global forestry related organizations.

By conducting a survey with 168 stakeholders, some additional expert interviews and a policy mapping, our results reveal how stakeholders perceive the "policy mix" in terms of institutional frameworks and their fostering and hindering elements. In the discussion section, we identify and analyze the categories of this policy mix.

Our conclusions indicate that the current bundle of policies is not well-coordinated and is challenging to manage due to sectoral differences. The policy mix suffers from trade-offs and soft coordination. Additionally, we examine aspects that work well, drawing insights from the surveys open questions and qualitative insights from the selected case studies.

To summarize, our research highlights the importance of institutional frameworks and governance mechanisms in supporting effective forest management. We identify key hindering and supporting factors, assess institutional gaps, and analyze policy barriers that impact the implementation of forest-based mitigation strategies. We contribute to discussions on contradicting socio-economic aspects of these strategies and provides recommendations for multi-level governance solutions.