Browsing by Author "Koski, Mika"

This thesis explores the attitudes and beliefs of non-industrial Finnish private forest owners regarding the risks associated with their owned forests and insuring against these risks. The aim of the research is to provide insight into the perception of risks regarding forests and how private forest owners view forest insurance. The thesis employs a qualitative research method. The research interviews consisted of ten semi-structured telephone interviews. The interviewees were private forest owners whose contact details were requested from the Finnish Forest Centre's forest information system in accordance with Section 11 of the Act on the forest information system of the Finnish Forest Centre (laki Suomen metsäkeskuksen metsätietojärjestelmästä, 419/11). The sample was limited to forest holdings of at least five hectares and was distributed across the price zones used in the study report Suomalainen metsänomistaja 2020 by Karppinen et al. (2020). The interviewees were selected using random sampling from each of the seven price zones in Finland. Based on the research findings, awareness of forest risks among private forest owners is partially deficient. For instance, 70 percent of the interviewed private forest owners believed that the only way to prepare for forest fire damage is by purchasing forest fire insurance. One of the key findings of the research was that private forest owners were particularly willing to appeal decisions related to forest insurance. They were also willing to appeal decisions given by the Finnish Forest Centre regarding damage caused by elk or deer, even though processing such matters in administrative courts involves a fee.