Participatory methods and approaches in the management of Mediterranean forests: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Understanding participatory processes and identifying successful implementation methods is key to effective bottom-up sustainable forest management strategies. This paper aims to contribute to that understanding by systematically reviewing the literature dealing with participatory methods to forest management in five European Mediterranean countries (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain), specifically identifying the relationship between the level of stakeholder involvement, type of stakeholders and the methods applied, as well as the results obtained, and the main challenges identified. Our findings show that stakeholders commonly involved are NGOs, landowners, companies, and local government bodies. A strong correspondence between the methods used and the purpose and level of stakeholders’ involvement is identified. Social benefits stand out as the most relevant result of this engagement somehow overshadowing economic and environmental ones. Results show that participatory forest management methods are simple and do not depend on sophisticated methods and techniques, so that their wider application depends above all on the will to do so.