Bioeconomy imaginaries: A review of forest-related social science literature
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SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF A FOREST-BASED BIOECONOMY
Bioeconomy imaginaries: A review of forest-related social science literature Sara Holmgren, Dalia D’Amato
, Alexandru Giurca
Received: 24 January 2020 / Revised: 17 April 2020 / Accepted: 8 September 2020 / Published online: 9 October 2020
Abstract This review article examines how social science literature co-produces various imaginaries of forest-based bioeconomy transformations and pathways for reaching desired ends. Based on an analysis of 59 research articles, we find that despite a growing number of social sciences studies on the forest-based bioeconomy, much of the research tends to replicate a bioeconomy imaginary articulated in EU and national bioeconomy policies and strategies. Accordingly, the research primarily reproduces a weak approach to sustainability, which prioritize economic growth and competitiveness. Expectations are largely directed at national and regional corporate interests and forest industrial renewal, while the state has a supportive rather than restricting role. We discuss the findings against the role of social sciences, and conclude that social science scholars may adopt various strategies if interested in opening up forest-based policy debates and offer alternative imaginaries of sustainable bioeconomy transformations. Keywords Circular bioeconomy Equity Forest-based bioeconomy Knowledge-based economy Sustainable transformation Sustainability transitions
INTRODUCTION Global societies need to fundamentally restructure production and consumption systems to tackle climate change, resource depletion, and widening social inequality. This has led to a substantial focus on sustainability Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01398-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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transformations in both science and politics (Abson et al. 2017; Ho¨lscher et al. 2018). Considering that transformations are almost always imbued with change towards greater sustainability, they are inevitably normative endeavours that explicitly (or not) carry with them ideas of desired futures. This may include changes needed for realizing desired futures, the instruments that should be used to implement such changes, and the agents driving change (Yusoff and Gabrys 2011; Wangel 2011; Jasanoff 2015). Simultaneously, value judgments influence how societies value the well-being of current generations compared to that of future generations, whether intrinsic or instrumental values are attributed to ecological systems, whose interests and preferences are heard or marginalized, and how the risks and costs associated with sustainability transformations are socially and economically distributed (Pickering and Persson 2019). Based on an understanding of science and policy as interlinked processes of collective meaning making, we argue that researchers have an important say in how sustainability transformations are envisioned and translated into practice. In this re
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