20.500.12556/DiRROS-27009 The role of policymakers and businesses in advancing the forest-based bioeconomy perceptions, challenges, and opportunities We examined the positions of policymakers and businesses on the forest-based bioeconomy (FBE) in Slovenia, focusing on the importance of forest ecosystem services within the FBE. We also explored how businesses perceive their market potential and the role of payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes in strengthening the FBE. We conducted interviews with 35 policymakers from the fields of forestry, the wood industry, the environment, and tourism, as well as with 24 business representatives from primary wood production, the wood industry, and forest tourism. Respondents identified fragmented land ownership (mean score on a 1–5 scale = 4.19), the lack of a strategic framework (4.12), and inefficient use of woody biomass (4.08) as key challenges to implementing the FBE in Slovenia. They highlighted knowledge transfer (4.54), investment support (4.47), and raising environmental awareness (4.44) as the main forms of state support for the FBE, while unfamiliarity with PES appears to contribute to its neglect. No significant sectoral differences were observed among policymakers regarding PES involvement; however, they viewed their role mainly in the design phase of PES and least in the phases of coordination and establishment. Greater interest in participating in PES was expressed by forest tourism businesses, despite perceiving lower market potential than those in primary wood production and the wood industry. The evident heterogeneity of stakeholder positions on the FBE calls for strong coordination and a transparent policy process involving all stakeholder coalitions to establish a coherent national strategy for the FBE. The results highlighted policymakers’ limited governance capacity and reluctance to fully implement PES as a potential solution for strengthening the FBE. The differing motivations of businesses regarding PES underscore the need for a nuanced, sector-specific approach to foster broader engagement. forest-based bioeconomy forest ecosystem services stakeholders’ positions policymakers businesses payments for ecosystem services PES market potential gozdno biogospodarstvo gozdne ekosistemske storitve stališča deležnikov oblikovalci politik podjetja plačila za ekosistemske storitve tržni potencial true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Znanstveno delo 2026-01-28 13:53:40 2026-01-28 13:53:41 2026-02-01 03:55:35 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 28. 1. 2026; str. 1-29 iss. 1, [article no.] 219 Vol. 18 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2025-12-25 630*9 2071-1050 10.3390/su18010219 266487811 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/18/1/219 1 5fe149d1-fc48-11f0-a15d-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=39641 sustainability-18-00219.pdf sustainability-18-00219.pdf 1 9F0618A962AA6EBD9B5CA68071A0FD15 280372b0dab9c87263e1734797bfaa373e74b966aed9877f6743cea7f0632f84 86099c27-fc48-11f0-a15d-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=39642 Gozdarski inštitut Slovenije 0 0 0