What Are the Impacts of Social Innovation? A Synthetic Review and Case Study of Community Forestry in the Scottish Highlands

Carla Barlagne, Mariana Melnykovych, David Miller, Richard J. Hewitt, Laura Secco, Elena Pisani and Maria Nijnik
Additional contact information
Carla Barlagne: Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Mariana Melnykovych: Economics and Social Sciences Research Unit, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
David Miller: Information and Computational Sciences Department, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Richard J. Hewitt: Information and Computational Sciences Department, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Laura Secco: Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TESAF), University of Padova, Via dell’Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro (PD), Italy
Maria Nijnik: Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Department, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: In a context of political and economic austerity, social innovation has been presented as a solution to many social challenges, old and new. It aims to support the introduction of new ideas in response to the current urgent needs and challenges of vulnerable groups and seems to offer promising solutions to the challenges faced by rural areas. Yet the evidence base of the impacts on the sustainable development of rural communities remains scarce. In this paper, we explore social innovation in the context of community forestry and provide a brief synthetic review of key themes linking the two concepts. We examine a case of social innovation in the context of community forestry and analyse its type, extent, and scale of impact in a marginalized rural area of Scotland. Using an in-depth case study approach, we apply a mixed research methodology using quantitative indicators of impact as well as qualitative data. Our results show that social innovation reinforces the social dimension of community forestry. Impacts are highlighted across domains (environmental, social, economic, and institutional/governance) but are mainly limited to local territory. We discuss the significance of those results in the context of community forestry as well as for local development. We formulate policy recommendations to foster and sustain social innovation in rural areas.

Keywords: social impact; well-being; governance; scale of impact; rural development policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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