Forest Commons in Boreal Sweden Aims and Outcomes on Forest Condition and Rural Development

This thesis is based upon five studies that assess the performance and success of the Swedish forest commons (FCs), by comparing their outcomes (in the present context) with the intentions and aims expressed by relevant officials and commentators at the time of their establishment. The overall objective was to contribute to the understanding of factors that promote development of local institutions that enhance forest conditions and local well-being (rural development). A quantitative, comparative, and case study approach has been applied, in which forest commons in several regions have been compared with one another, and with other property regimes within the same regions. In the first study, the state of the forests in all 33 forest commons was assessed, using National Forest Inventory data, and they were compared to other forests within the same municipalities. Results revealed that harvesting has been relatively limited in the forest commons in Västerbotten and Norrbotten. By a case study in a single municipality: forestry production parameters, sales revenues, operating costs and investments, disposabl