The everyday forests we don’t see in official reports: A conceptual shift for socially just forestry
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Forestry is commonly framed through biophysical metrics - canopy cover, timber yields, carbon stocks - defined by global standards that travel into national policies. These definitions frequently displace the lived landscapes in which forests are sustained. This perspective article argues for a conceptual shift: recognizing the everyday work of care and organizing - often unpaid, often feminized, that bring into being and sustain forest landscapes - as central to forest governance. Drawing on research across the Global South and North, I show how technocratic forest definitions and program architectures overlook social reproduction, spiritual values, and affective ties, thereby fueling conflict, eroding legitimacy, and weakening outcomes. I propose an agenda for just forestry that (i) values care work in forests and communities, (ii) recognizes informal organizing in decision-making, (iii) embraces plural values associated with forestry, and (iv) adopts a systemic lens that entails coordination with sectors beyond forestry as well as across scales, from local governance to international climate programs. Reframing forests as lived landscapes - entangled with everyday practices, identities, and relationships - does more than correct blind spots - it offers practical pathways for durable stewardship under climate and biodiversity crises.
Source: AMBIO
Author: Seema Arora-Jonsson
Institution: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,490
OpenAlex ID: W7204577153