How do landowners perceive and respond to incentives for sustainable forest management? A synthesis to inform discussions on programs for climate-smart forestry

Originally, forest sustainability was primarily concerned with continual timber production. Contemporary concepts such as sustainable forest management (SFM) and climate-smart forestry (CSF) emphasize the continual production of multiple forest goods and services, both market and non-market. In addition to the creation of new programs for CSF, recent legislation in the United States (US) has expanded the use of incentive programs traditionally used for subsidizing SFM to also support management activities that aid in climate adaptation and mitigation. Understanding landowner perceptions of incentive programs for SFM in the US and how their use correlates with landowner behavior may be informative for discussions on programs for CSF. In this study, we systematically review the literature on financial incentive programs for SFM and forest landowner behavior, perceptions, and characteristics. We restrict our analysis to refereed articles published in academic journals since 1992 and which feature actual incentive programs available to forest landowners in the US. We synthesize lessons from the literature on past and current programs and discuss potential implications for incentive programs for CSF. Program administrators may utilize the findings from this review to inform the design and administration of incentive programs that promote sustainable forestry and support forest landowners in responding to and mitigating climate change.