This question might seem simple, but for forest owners it carries real weight. Every decision they make, from planting and maintaining to conservation practices, shapes how forests can contribute to climate protection. To better understand forest owners’ decisions and their willingness to adopt more sustainable practices, the CLIMATE NUDGE project conducted a large-scale nationwide questionnaire survey in the Spring 2022. More than 3.800 Finns took part, including 596 forest owners. The goal was broad, but one finding became particularly clear when looking at the data: Finnish forest owners seem to be more willing to change their practices than you might think.
And this willingness to make changes doesn’t appear out of nowhere. Overall, the forest owners reported relatively low levels of climate anxiety and very positive attitudes towards the environment. The majority of respondents rated their forest’s ability to capture and store carbon as very or fairly important. And it was precisely those who rated this carbon storage highly who also reported lower climate anxiety. Perhaps they consider their land as part of the solution to combat climate change, which might lead to a more positive outlook.
When looking at responsibility, the picture becomes even more interesting. In response to the question about the main actors responsible for mitigating climate change, the forest owners most often pointed to ‘countries with the highest emissions’ or ‘large multinational companies’. A pattern that is also found in international studies regarding the general population (e.g. Kennedy & Tyson, 2024; Kwiatkowska et al., 2025). At the same time, however, about one-third of forest owners saw themselves as largely responsible for combating climate change, with another 39% feeling at least some responsibility. This suggests that forest owners understand climate action as a shared responsibility, while clearly recognizing their personal role in contributing to it.
This personal responsibility, it turns out, is not just a feeling. It is also linked to behaviour. In our data, forest owners who felt a greater sense of personal responsibility were much more open to implement sustainable forestry practices, even if such changes could lead to lower economic returns. They were also less dependent on governmental compensation and far less likely to completely reject changes to their forestry practice.
Surprisingly, the duration of ownership had no influence on this willingness. Regardless of whether someone had owned their forest for five or fifty years, their willingness to change was surprisingly similar. This challenges the common assumption that long-term owners are more set in their ways. Instead, they seem to be just as open to more sustainable practices as newer owners. Maybe because a long relationship with your forest also encourages long-term thinking.
What does all this mean for policy, communication, or even the quiet inner dialogue each owner has about their forest? It suggests that the willingness to change is already there. Forest owners are not waiting to be convinced of the climatic relevance of their land. Many already feel responsible, and as previous studies show, responsibility opens the door to action (e.g. Bouman et al., 2020).
So, if you are a forest owner, this might be the moment you realize: You were ready for change before anyone asked you to make it. And simply by reading this, you may have just been nudged to reflect on the choices you make for your own forest. Which brings us back to the question: What kind of forest do you want to grow for the next generation?
Tiziana Braun, University of Turku
References:
- Bouman, T., Verschoor, M., Albers, C. J., Böhm, G., Fisher, S. D., Poortinga, W., Whitmarsh, L., & Steg, L. (2020). When worry about climate change leads to climate action: How values, worry and personal responsibility relate to various climate actions. Global Environmental Change, 62, 102061. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102061
- Kwiatkowska, A., Mosanya, M., Uram, P., Urazbayeva, D., Nurullayeva, B., Mikuličiūtė, V., Sargautytė, R., & Karpinskij, K. (2025). Who Is Most Responsible for the Mitigation of Climate Change? An Intercultural Study in Central Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Land, 14(9), 1914.
- Pew Research Center. Kennedy & Tyson. (2024, December 9). How Americans View Climate Change and Policies to Address the Issue. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2024/12/09/how-americans-view-climate-change-and-policies-to-address-the-issue/