Strategies of Handling Risk and Uncertainty in Forest Management in Central Europe

This paper deals with different levels on which the challenge of risks and uncertainty is addressed in forest planning—in theory and practice, with regard to the organization of forest management planning as well as in individual long-term decision making of practitioners. Therefore, it first shortly defines the most relevant terms and describes sources, types and categories as well as the basic modes of handling risks and uncertainty relevant for science and planning practice. In the second part, approaches to handle risk in forest management planning systems are described within the framework of the risk management process. The third part of the section deals with theoretical approaches to measure risk and uncertainty and introduces forest management planning models as well as standard economic risk models. The fourth summarizes empirical studies where individual and organizational decision making and planning processes in the face of risk and uncertainty are analysed and shows how challenges of complexity and uncertainty, as influenced by psychological as well as social factors, are handled in real forest management. The conclusions (part 5) point to the discrepancy between the theoretical and practical handling of uncertainty and risk.