„Origins, peace negotiations and failures in Estonian ‚forest war’“ – next Scientific Coffee ‚Human-Forest-Relationships‘ with Peeter Vihma (Estonian University of Life Sciences) | 15 February 2023

While Estonian forest sector was the first public policy field where collaborative principles were introduced in the 1990s, the field is ridden with conlflicts. These escalated in 2016 to such levels that it is currently publicly known as the „Forest War“. The Ministry of Environment noticed this and attempted to alleviate tensions during the writing of the Estonian Forestry Development Pland Until 2035 (FDP 2035) by incorporating a large number of stakeholders in the process, hired discussion facilitators and applied other innovative negotiation techniques. However, the process was unable to mitigate tensions between the participants. The presentation looks at the institutions before and during the eruption of the „Forest War“ in search for explanations to its dynamics. The presentation is based on both scientific articles and first-hand experience as an advisor for the Ministry of Environment for designing the FDP 2035 process.

Peeter Vihma received his PhD in sociology in 2022 from the University of Helsinki in Finland. Since January 2022 he is a researcher at the Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. Peeter Vihma has been involved in forestry governance and civil society analyses and has made extensive analyses about the Estonian forestry debate.

zoom-link: https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/61027392103, Meeting-ID: 610 2739 2103, code: 513063

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Scientific Coffee “Human-Forest-Relationships”

Let’s sit and talk in the scientific café! The “Scientific Coffee HFR” sessions give room for open and relaxed discussions on current research subjects related to human and society relations to forests. It warmly welcomes all interested in forest-related research to join online sessions.
Each session lasts approximately two hours. It starts with a 30-minutes presentation of a guest speaker. After the presentation, with coffee or tea and cookies at hand, participants have plenty of room for an open discussion and exchange.
The “Scientific Coffee HFR” takes place two to three times per semester on Wednesday afternoons.

Guest speakers wanted! If you are interested in contributing to the “Scientific Coffee HFR”, please contact either romy.langeheine(at)uni-jena.de or tuulikki.halla(at)uef.fi with info on your subject (title and short abstract) and a preferred Wednesday (13-15 CET / 14-16 EET).
The idea for a scientific coffee HFR came up during a cooperation between Finnish and German researchers in 2021. The Finnish research project Human-Forest Relationships in Societal Change and the German research group Mentalities in Flux (flumen) organized the workshop “Contested Society-Nature-Relations. Forest related Emotions, Practices & Conflicts in Times of Societal Change” in May 2021. The first “Scientific Coffee HFR” session was held in September 2021.

The “Scientific Coffee HFR” is organized by: