Managing complexity: a new challenge for forest planning

Abstract

The management of the complexity of forest systems is a task that requires tools of various kinds but the role of planning remains central, especially at the single property scale. Today a forest planner has to act at the interface between two complex systems in close mutual relationship: forest and society. The latter is much more articulated than in the past and requires multiple functions from the forest, often in conflict with each other. Management decisions based on systemic silviculture should promote the natural order of the forest, uncertain and unpredictable, evaluating the ability of each forest to provide the required functions. To encourage the participation of stakeholders, systematically monitoring the effects of decisions made, to adopt decision support systems more suitable than the traditional ones to address unstructured problems and integrate the multitude of information available today on forests are proposed as key ideas to tackle the difficult task entrusted to forest planning.