The influence of science within forest policy making - the case of payments for forest ecosystem services for climate-adapted forest management in Germany

Forest science provides extensive scientific information. Its influence on forest-related political decision-making, however, has often proved to be negligible. For this reason, a case study on the payment of forest ecosystem services (PFES) in Germany examines the extent to which other factors influence the political knowledge transfer process and demonstrates, through a power-based definition of actors, the opportunities for political influence of researchers in the political process. An innovative approach for a quantitative analysis of political influence is employed, consisting of the four elements “coercion”, “(dis-) incentives”, “dominant information”, and “scientific information”. Using the newly introduced terms “focused interest” and “focused influence”, a differentiated analysis of the political influence of actors in relation to political issues is enabled. It becomes evident that the use of political influence resources by actors varies between political issues. For greater political impact of scientific information, a stronger consideration of the individual roles of actors and issues is recommended. The study further positions the augmented actor-centered power (ACP) framework vis-à-vis broader power theories and other ACP scholarship, highlighting its distinct suitability for tracing influence in forest policy making. • Quantifying elements of power and information enables nuanced analysis of influence. • A modified ACP approach enables analyzing the influence of scientific information. • The political influence of actors is interest-based and issue-specific. • Scientific information has a minor role compared to other elements of influence. • The forestry policy sector is strong in scientific resources.