Perspectives on the forest bioeconomy: insights of stakeholders from cases in Central Europe and the Mekong region
This comparative study examines how 336 purposively recruited respondents in Czechia, Slovakia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam understand and assess the forest bioeconomy. Respondents generally reported stronger familiarity with sustainable forest management and the circular economy than with the bioeconomy itself. Perceptions also varied across country cases, particularly within the Mekong region. A binary logistic regression identified associations between high perceived implementation and country, age, education, understanding of policy aims, support for implementation and positive assessments of forest-industry implementation. These findings describe perceptions within the recruited sample rather than national populations, and the reported associations should not be interpreted as causal effects.