This review paper provides an overview of approaches to which we may resort for handling the complex decision problems involving uncertainty and risk that climate change implies for forest managers. Modelling approaches that could support adaptive management strategies seem to be called for, not only as climate change denotes increased economic uncertainty but also because new and more reliable information becomes available as time passes and climate changes. The paper (1) provides a broad overview of state-of-the-art methods for optimal decision making under risk and uncertainty in forestry and (2) elaborates on the possible use of these methods in adaptive forest management under climate change. A survey of the current literature is carried out to identify approaches and developments that may prove most promising in relation to different challenges to the adaptive management of forest ecosystems under climate change. Most studies focusing on changing, typically increasing, risks in forest management under climate change tend to build on existing approaches about changes in risk levels contingent on climate change scenarios. Finally, we discuss what to emphasise in future studies to improve the understanding of adaptive forest management and decision support tools needed to cope with climate change.

Politics increasingly introduces initiatives supporting a shift toward a bioeconomy aiming at a society relying strongly on renewable biological sources while achieving economic growth efficiently and sustainably. However, the agenda of bioeconomy comprises different “shades of green,” in the sense that different actors stress different aspects of the concept, when embracing it in communication. This conceptual paper aims to present policy and socioeconomic theoretical frameworks and research areas relevant for a more holistic understanding of the bioeconomy concept applied to the forest sector, and identify a core set of potential contributions from social sciences for enhancing the bioeconomy in the forest sector. The paper focuses on studies within policy analysis, economics, and business administration disciplines. Thus it presents diverse disciplinary perspectives on the forest sector in a bioeconomy. Furthermore, innovation and sustainability have been identified as issues relevant to be approached across these disciplines.

For policy instruments to be effective, they should motivate forest owners to adjust behaviour in agreement with forest policy objectives. It may therefore be beneficial to know the motivations of private forest owners. Often, forest owners are assumed to constitute an entity, although statistics and structural changes indicate increasing heterogeneity. Instead, forest owners can be divided into types, i.e. groups that include forest owners with similar attitudes, and where attitudes of each group differ from those of other groups. Based on a survey among private forest owners in Denmark, three types of owners were identified: (1) the classic forest owner to whom the forest has economic importance; (2) the hobby owner who enjoys work and recreation in the forest; and (3) the indifferent farmer to whom the different values provided by the forest are equally (un)important. Implications of this typology for forest policy formulation and implementation are discussed.