The political practice of mountain forest restoration—comparing restoration concepts in four European countries

This paper compares the Alpine countries of Switzerland, Bavaria (Germany), Austria and Slovenia, and investigates how institutions influence the development and application of mountain forest restoration concepts. In practice, different restoration approaches have been developed in these countries depending on the distribution of forest ownership and the administrative arrangements. According to the different institutional settings, different actors are involved in the policy networks. With their different interests and value systems, these actors determine the goals, the design and the outcome of restoration programmes. Policy change might become effective by including new participants in the network. As the need for restoration is often caused by unsustainable forest management, the change of institutional arrangements is crucial to facilitate advanced management systems, which aim at avoiding degradation in the future.