Vol. 51 (1), 2009: 54-60

FOLIA FORESTALIA POLONICA
Series A - Forestry, 2009, Vol. 51(1), 54–60.

Regional governance in rural development programmes
– which role for forestry?

Lukas Giessen
Forest and Nature Conservation Policy, University of Goettingen, Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Goettingen, Germany, tel. +49 0551 390, e-mail: lgiesse@uni-goettingen.de

Abstract
Rural development policies lately take an inter-sectoral area-based approach. This turn raises questions relating to governance on the one hand and issues relating to the participation of different sectors therein on the other. In this paper I present a case study from Germany, focussing on three area-based rural development funding programmes, two temporary pilot programmes and a mainstream scheme. The concept of regional governance is shown to play a crucial role in the implementation of pilot programmes, while mainstream policy only partly is affected. Forestry as a sector was found to only play a minor role in such processes of regional governance. This paper reveals sector –  internal as well as – external causes of this phenomenon and closed with conclusions on how to (sector-internally and – externally) enhance forestry participation to area-based rural development programmes.

Key words
area-based rural development, forestry sector, regional governance, mainstream and pilot programmes, LEADER+, Active Regions, GAK, integrated rural development