The role of social networks in forest landscape planning

Social capital is defined as the sum of interactions between both individuals and groups, which permit the development of rules, shared values, as well as cooperative and reciprocal links. This concept, developed by social science, can be applied as a support structure in decision making for natural resources. In particular, the quantification of social capital, divided into its respective component parts (social networks, associations and relationships with institutions) can be useful in the implementation of broad scale forest planning. The present work proposes a method to measure the structural social capital, together with forest planning field surveys, in order to highlight the potential to support participative decision making processes. The experimental implementation of the method was conducted in a mountainous area of South Italy, in the framework of an ongoing Forest Landscape Management Plan.

► We examine the social aspects linked to the forest planning and management.
► We use social indicators to evaluate how to start a public participation process.
► We conclude that social networks measurement contributes participative planning.