A key part of the project is to ensure the research addresses the needs of stakeholders and produces results that can be used on the ground. A lot of work will be done throughout the project to promote communication and collaboration with all interested parties.
We will assess the values stakeholders assign to Scots Pine, current understanding among and between stakeholder groups regarding threats facing Scots Pine, how these threats are currently managed and options/barriers to changing practices. We will map the socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental contexts influencing how different stakeholders understand and make decisions by assessing the values and trade-offs motivating choices. This will find ways to allow a landscape comprised of diverse land users and managers under a variety of ownership models to respond to maintain a collective good.
Following a detailed stakeholder analysis and assessment of current policy frameworks, the project will create a Science-Policy-Practitioner Interface (SPPI) for greater dialogue, knowledge exchange and validation of project activities and outputs. Three SPPI workshops will be organized over the course of the project. We will develop scenarios with stakeholders reflecting current practice and future options in managing the sourcing, supply and management of the national pine population. Integrating these scenarios with existing data on the current distribution and status of Scots pine in the UK landscape, including extent of regeneration, and with our results on variation in resistance traits and in the threat organisms we will build models to analyse different management scenarios. This testing will include variations in the geographic context, e.g. spatial extent, density and management of Scots pine in private plantations, natural populations, restoration plantings; extent of natural regeneration; extent of grant-supported planting & management / regulation. Smaller network meetings will take place to ensure that work undertaken in WP2-3 is socially robust. The workshops will be augmented by targeted focus groups and semi-structured interviews, not only to access stakeholders that are less likely to attend workshops but also to gather in-depth qualitative data on how the concept of resilience is understood by different stakeholders, effectiveness of existing policy tools and the current boundaries and social acceptability of different management options. The SPPI will also discuss recommendations for changes in policy and management, who will make the changes and how
As part of this work, we have already carried out a number of events:
In 2015-2016 we will be carrying out a number of interviews to gather evidence from a range of different stakeholders (policy-makers, industry, conservation groups and the wider public) to gather views on values. For more detail on our planned activities, please contact:
Mariella Marzano (Forest Research): mariella.marzano@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Juliette Young (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology): jyo@ceh.ac.uk
