Abstract/Summary

This thesis aims to gain an understanding of the developments that take place inside forest governance regimes during economic crises, especially with respect to policies included in bailout deals. It focuses on the case of Greece, because the Greek forest regime has been showing signs of neglect in recent decades, and despite the huge impacts of the 2009 economic crisis, its effects on the Greek forest governance regime have not been explored. The study starts with describing the theoretical background, and then examines how large-scale economic crises have differentially affected forest governance regimes in in the past, when IFIs are involved. Then it dives into Greece’s forest governance regime’s most prominent stakeholders; it identifies developments and the experience of key bodies in the national forest governance regime since the beginning of the 2009 crisis; and it determines the public’s valuation of specific forest attributes and some basic elements about their relationship with forests. Findings can help to increase the resilience of forest regimes and relevant stakeholders to the volatility that often accompanies economic crises. The importance of pre-crisis arrangements in forest governance are highlighted for both international and national (Greece) settings, as they can affect the developments during economic crises. Some of the key patterns identified in forest governance vis-a-vis specific policies, namely privatization of public property, deregulation, and austerity in public finances, have to do with decentralization of power; underfunded forest authorities; and in cases with no coherent strategy for forests, economic values dominating over environmental or social ones. For the case of Greece, the abandonment of rural areas and lack of forest-related economy, along with significant decrease in funding towards key forest actors played major role in the adverse developments in the governance of forest regime. Nonetheless, the public’s valuation of both environmental and social forest values remains positive, despite the effects of the economic crisis onto the society. This thesis recommends that national and international actors intensify their efforts to adopt and/or support official plans for forests, and to consider external effects of policies that do not target primarily the forest regime, preferably through increased consultation with stakeholders, while it also highlights the importance of up-to-date relevant data, which can be crucial to informed decision making.