How to broker knowledge for a transition: Knowledge campaigns targeting Swedish forest owners in the 1950s and 1960s

This study analyzes the transition to mechanized forest management and the implementation of sustainable-yields forestry in Sweden during the 1950s and 1960s. The objective is to produce insights that are relevant for policymakers working with forests and the climate transition today. The analysis focuses on how the Swedish National Association of Forest Owners’ Associations (SSR)—an association organizing non-industrial forest owners—used courses, technological trials, and other “knowledge brokering” initiatives to engage forest owners in mechanization and the pursuit of sustainable yields. The study argues that the SSR’s innovative approach to knowledge brokering formed a bottom-up perspective that enabled learning about, formed identities around, facilitated commitment to, and fostered legitimacy for the envisioned transition. Knowledge brokering thus functioned as a lubricant to smooth the transitional machinery. Learning from the past, the study suggests that contemporary policymakers can benefit from investing in grassroots mobilization as well as in active and conscious knowledge brokering.