Against the background of the BMBF funding activities "Research for sustainable forest management", the project addressed the future of forest and land use in the year 2100 in the area of conflict between globalisation, national action and regionalisation. With reference to selected problem areas whose development dynamics are of central importance for the future of forests, policy-orientated scenarios and options for action were developed and transferred into a public discourse. This was intended to counter the deficit that the future of forests and their utilisation has so far only been addressed in Germany in a partial and non-integrative manner. The project analysed processes of change in forest and land use from a social perspective with a time horizon up to 2100, linking the development dynamics with basic social and normative attitudes and governance issues. It focussed on the question of which new social and political spaces for action and development opportunities will open up in the long term and how these can be successfully shaped by setting the course.

At the analytical level, the project focuses on currently recognisable central, future-relevant problem areas and potential for change:

  • Future factor: Globalisation - world markets in upheaval, market and governance
  • Future factor: Climate change - development of forests and landscapes in the face of risks and uncertainties
  • Future factor: Demographic change - shrinking/growing regions, ownership and land use structures
  • Wood utilisation as a factor for the future: Energy and material use of wood, security of supply and new technologies, land use and competition for land use
  • Future factor: Sustainable work culture, regional economy, regional innovation capability
  • Future factor: Changing social and cultural values, social demands on forest functions

The project used the scenario technique as an integration tool to make dynamics, interdependencies and trends transparent and open to discussion. The project did not provide forecasts in the traditional sense. With the help of scenarios with different ranges (2020, 2050, 2100) and different boundary conditions, it provided a basis for the development of social visions and strategic perspectives, indications of paths, action corridors and options for action for today's stakeholders for the social and ecological transformation of sustainable forest and land use.

The results of the project were developed in a participatory manner and publicised to the relevant specialist public and the interested general public via events and publications. The project also used innovative methods such as scenario writing, the involvement of the younger generation as part of a youth conference and the organisation of regional conferences.