Rational versus adaptive forest management planning: exploratory research on the strategic planning practices of Dutch f
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Rational versus adaptive forest management planning: exploratory research on the strategic planning practices of Dutch forest management organizations Marjanke A. Hoogstra-Klein • Martine Burger
Received: 16 October 2012 / Revised: 26 March 2013 / Accepted: 11 June 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
Abstract The long-running debate between the rational and the adaptive school of strategic forest management planning has received considerable attention. There is, however, little empirical evidence of whether and how forest management organizations actually plan strategically. The goal of this paper is to fill this empirical gap by describing the strategic planning practices of 22 Dutch forest management organizations faced with uncertain and unpredictable environments. Two characteristics on which the two planning approaches fundamentally differ form the basis of the description of the planning practices. The first characteristic relates to the way the external world is perceived; certainty is essential in the rational model, whereas uncertainty is central in the adaptive model. The second characteristic relates to the way the internal decision process is organized. Rational planning is much more static and stable, whereas adaptive planning processes are much more continuous, dynamic and natural. Interviews with the organizations studied point to a whole range of planning practices. Rational and adaptive planning are merely two ends of a continuum, and planning practices vary along this continuum. The rational–adaptive planning debate can therefore be considered oversimplified as it focuses only on the two extremes and does not incorporate the whole range of possible practices in between these extremes.
Communicated by M. Moog. M. A. Hoogstra-Klein (&) M. Burger Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords Adaptive planning Forest management Rational planning Strategic planning Uncertainty
Introduction Given the long time horizons underlying forestry processes, which can span decades and even generations, it is not surprising that strategic (or long-range) forest management planning has traditionally occupied an important place in forestry (Hoogstra and Schanz 2008a, b, 2009). For centuries, the dominant (or normal) paradigm governing the practice of strategic forest management planning was the rational approach. This approach involves the systematic evaluation of alternative means to achieve a preferred goal in the future. Once a goal is set, alternatives to achieve the goal are identified and evaluated, and the preferred alternative is chosen (Luzzi 2001). All is laid down in a plan for a certain period of time, which is then followed and its progress is monitored (Ruitenbeek and Cartier 1998). Since the 1980s, this rational approach has been intensely criticized. One of the most compelling criticisms is the impossibility of forecasting (Olson 1977; Stinson 1986
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