Who Is Restoring Forest Landscapes? Analysis of Citizen Participation within the De-Eucalyptising Brigades in Galicia, Spain

Diego Cidrás ()
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Diego Cidrás: Departamento de Xeografía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Praza da Universidade 1, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-12

Abstract: The expansion of eucalypt plantations constitutes a growing source of landscape transformation in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In this context, forest planning has failed to design forestry policies that consider the demands of the population as a whole. Among other consequences, in 2018 a group of activists founded a volunteer programme aiming at collective action against the expansion of degraded forests. By 2022, over 100 actions had been performed, mostly involving eradications of eucalypt sprouts, and 1000 activists took part in such programmes. Through participatory action research, this work explores the nature and functioning of this programme and discusses in particular the socialisation of landscape management. The results reveal a slight prevalence of an urban public participating in rural areas, so that activism against eucalyptus expansion conforms a centripetal force in the creation of new networks of actors that transcend the rural–urban dichotomy. It is concluded that the studied case can be taken as a model for public institutions aiming to reinforce citizen participation in forest landscape plans.

Keywords: eucalyptus; landscape; forest plantation; public participation; participatory action research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2186-:d:991283

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