The Forest Alliance brings people together and creates opportunities for learning from the forest and for exploring new approaches in practice. It‘s members jointly advocate for for social-ecological forest management that considers ecological functioning, natural adaptability and social responsibility as interconnected.
What will forest management look like in the future? This question is not to be explored in theory alone. The Alliance‘s forest partners play a special role: in their forests, they are already demonstrating how a social-ecological mindset changes forestry practice.
Our conception of the forest determines how we treat it: Forests are complex, self-organising ecosystems. Countless organisms and natural processes interact and influence one another. At the same time, forests are closely intertwined with their surrounding landscape and with our society. The Forest Alliance combines ecological insight with social responsibility, and this attitude provides orientation for practical work.
What this means in practice is described in the ten principles that the Alliance has adopted as its guiding vision. They bring together perspectives from science, forestry and civil society, and form the basis for the actions of the Alliance’s founding organisations and partners:
1. Forests are complex ecosystems.
They are embedded in larger ecological systems and are also influenced by diverse social systems. Forests are complex, self-organising ecosystems with a wide range of landscape-ecological functions. At landscape and global scales, they are embedded in, and interact with, larger social-ecological systems. Their dynamics can be predicted and controlled only to a limited extent.
2. The best possible ecological functioning of forest ecosystems requires time and space.
The ecologically optimal functioning of forest ecosystems is based on long-term development and maturation, on ecological continuity and on spatial connectivity. Resilience arises from diversity, interconnectedness and the build-up of ecological reserves.
3. Naturalness is measured by the processes, structures and dynamics of self-organising and self-regulating forest ecosystems.
Social-ecological forest management derives naturalness from potential natural ecological processes. Naturalness is not a static state but a dynamic, open-ended principle of development.
4. Social-ecological forest management stands for a conscious approach to non-knowledge, including multiple uncertainties, as well as for joint knowledge production and an open culture of learning from mistakes.
Forests are too complex for us to fully understand them and predict their development. This must be acknowledged and taken into account in decision-making. The Forest Alliance recognises not only different forms of knowledge but also the limits of knowledge, and opens up space for the co-production of knowledge by different stakeholder groups.
5. Social-ecological forest management is adaptive and therefore learning-oriented.
The uncertainties and the limited possibilities for targeted control in forest ecosystems call for a restrained, precautionary and open-ended approach. Social-ecological forest management is understood as a continuous learning process that requires an adaptive approach to knowledge and non-knowledge.
6. Adaptive forest management requires comprehensive information about the forest, about management interventions and about naturally developing reference areas without intervention.
Being guided by, and developing towards, natural ecological processes requires a frame of reference. Adaptive, learning-oriented forest management therefore needs robust data from long-term monitoring, transparent documentation and comparison with natural forest development on reference areas without active intervention.
7. Social-ecological forest management serves the well-being of forests and thus of people and society.
Forests fulfil fundamental ecological and social functions. Social-ecological forest management is therefore oriented towards the long-term well-being of ecosystems and humankind.
8. Social-ecological forest management is ethically reflective.
Social-ecological forest management is practised with respect for life in all its forms and for future generations. It is therefore always ethically reflective.
9. Social-ecological forest management strives for sufficiency and promotes forest justice.
A good life for all people is only possible within planetary boundaries. The ethical orientation of social-ecological forest management therefore entails a sufficiency-oriented and fair approach to the forest and its services.
10. Social-ecological forest management stands for an economy that enables a good life for all people and forests in the long term.
Social-ecological forest management fully takes into account both the economic and the ecological consequences of its actions.
A detailed explanation of the ten principles is available here (in German, PDF).