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How do Forest Markets Work? Exploring a Practice Perspective

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Forest and Nature Governance

Part of the book series: World Forests ((WFSE,volume 14))

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Abstract

Over recent decades, it has become highly popular to use markets in governance processes. Enthusiasm for market-oriented approaches has become so overwhelming that in some areas of policy, including forest conservation, governments are even promoting new markets. However, doubts exist about how sustainable this mechanism for conservation is. To analyse and evaluate forest markets, it should first of all be clear what a market is. Despite claims to the contrary, the market concept has hardly ever been analysed in depth and only from a monodisciplinary view. Against this background, this paper addresses the question of what a market is and how it comes about. It begins by reviewing the different conceptualisations of markets in different disciplines and how they are used in forest market research. Then, a revised conceptualisation of markets is presented, by introducing a practice based approach. During the past 20 years, practice based approaches have attracted growing interest within the social sciences. Recently they have also been introduced in the study of markets, as they seem to offer a richer conceptual tool, and therefore a better understanding of the market, than other approaches. Using the example of the certified timber market, it is explored how a practice perspective can be used to analyse forestry markets.

Practice has a logic which is not that of the logician (Bourdieu 1990, p 86).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997.

  2. 2.

    Although the fundamental theorems of neoclassical economics assume market actors have perfect knowledge, in some cases more sophisticated models of markets are developed, in which actors are not necessarily perfectly informed. Even in these cases the results are dependent on conditions of perfect knowledge: where there is imperfect knowledge, the models assume some departure from optimality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Marjanke A. Hoogstra-Klein

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  1. Marjanke A. Hoogstra-Klein
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Correspondence to Marjanke A. Hoogstra-Klein .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre, Chairgroup Forest & Nature, Wageningen University &, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands

    Bas Arts

  2. , Forest & Nature Cons. Policy Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands

    Jelle Behagel

  3. , Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen, 6706 KN, Netherlands

    Séverine van Bommel

  4. , Forest & Nature Con. Policy Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands

    Jessica de Koning

  5. , Forest & Nature Con. Policy Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands

    Esther Turnhout

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Hoogstra-Klein, M.A. (2012). How do Forest Markets Work? Exploring a Practice Perspective. In: Arts, B., Behagel, J., van Bommel, S., de Koning, J., Turnhout, E. (eds) Forest and Nature Governance. World Forests, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5113-2_8

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