Willingness to adapt to climate change by small forest owners in Austria

The presented study investigates Austria's small-scale private forest owners' awareness of climate change and their willingness to adapt to its effects. The research is based on a country-wide survey of 919 forest owners which contained a specifically targeted choice experiment. The choice experiment analysed the willingness to implement adaptation measures through comparing the preferences for developing a spruce dominated stand towards a diverse, mixed stand. The results show that although the majority of forest owners already recognizes the effects of climate change, they are uncertain whether and when measures should be undertaken. The owners' willingness to adapt was higher whenever the proposed adaptation measures would be undertaken by a local forest enterprise in a soft procedure maintaining and enhancing the number of deciduous trees. Financial incentives, such as income from timber harvesting or governmental funding, did not have a strong effect on owners' choices, and neither did the forest value in 50 years. Further insights are based on a cluster and latent class analyses.