Preferences for proactive and reactive climate-adaptive forest management and the role of public financial support

The impacts of climate change threaten forest ecosystems and the services they provide. Policies and measures to make forests more resilient to climate-change-induced disturbances are needed, but the success of such efforts depends on their acceptance among forest owners and managers. Based on a discrete choice experiment survey among Swiss forest owners and managers in the canton of Bern, we analysed whether respondents prefer (i) proactive over reactive interventions, (ii) advanced/natural regeneration over plantings, (iii) native over non-native tree species, and (iv) the role governmental payment schemes play in these decisions. About one-third of the respondents belong to the class of forest managers and owners that are open to a transition strategy including proactive interventions and non-native tree species. Two-thirds of the forest owners and managers prefer a reactive restoration approach after disturbances and management that relies on native tree species. The amount of financial support plays a decisive role in the willingness of most respondents to accept adaptation measures. These results confirm the feasibility of diversifying the policy support toolbox to enable more proactive climate-adaptive forest management.