Perceptions, Not Facts: How Forestry Professionals Decide on the Restoration of Degraded Forest Ecosystems

The protection and sustainable management of forests make up one of the major challenges of the years to come. While deforestation is the main problem in the tropics and subtropics, the qualitative degradation of forest ecosystems is the focus of discussions in the temperate zones. From a sociopolitical point of view, the crucial question in this respect is how forestry professionals and forest owners can be prompted to take active measures to restore degraded forest stands. Based on the theory of social constructivism and the model of symbolic interactionism, this paper shows that a person's readiness to implement restoration measures, inter alia , depends on the urgency of the problem. However, it does not (only) hinge on the 'objective' degree of damage, but (also) on the subjective problem perception of the decision maker. The empirical survey indicates, furthermore, that these subjective perceptions are--among other things--determined by social interactions. On the basis of these findings, we can derive a number of practical recommendations not just for science and research scientists, but especially for persons and institutions working in (further) education and in the field of extension services.