Climate change is significantly impacting forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. As the U.S. Forest Service faces budget constraints and increasing management complexity, the agency is engaging companies to fund projects on national forests that address climate change adaptation and mitigation objectives. We interviewed Forest Service staff, 26 corporate partners, and several key members of non-profit organizations who serve as intermediaries facilitating these partnerships, to gain perspectives on the reasons why companies fund these types of projects. Participants indicated that companies engage based on four primary motivations: (1) a sustainability culture defined by leadership; (2) stakeholder pressures, such as those from consumers; (3) organizational characteristics, such as a reliance on forest products; and (4) marketing. Identifying what drives companies to fund projects can help managers create strategies to more effectively bring in private sector funding for public land management. In a broader sense, partnerships between companies and the Forest Service reflect a global trend in the growth of public-private partnerships, where governments, often facing budget constraints, increasingly rely on private actors to meet management objectives.
Collins, NH; Schultz, CA
Why companies fund climate change projects on national forests: insights into the motivations of the Forest Service's corporate partners
Climatic Change