Perspectives on the forest bioeconomy: insights of stakeholders from cases in Central Europe and the Mekong region

The forest bioeconomy is increasingly discussed as a policy and development concept, yet its meaning, implementation pathways, and societal acceptance remain uneven across different contexts. While bioeconomy transitions have been widely examined in the Global North, less attention has been paid to stakeholder perceptions in areas with different economic, institutional, and policy conditions. This study examines perceptions of the forest bioeconomy across cases in Central Europe and the Mekong region, focusing on three dimensions: understanding of bioeconomy-related concepts and sectors, perceptions of implementation and forest-based industrial transition, and views on support mechanisms and barriers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey and statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests, cluster analysis, and binary logistic regression. The results show that the term “bioeconomy” was less well understood than related concepts such as “sustainable forest management” (SFM) and “circular economy”, suggesting that awareness-raising efforts could build on concepts already familiar to stakeholders. The analysis also reveals differences between the Central Europe and the Mekong cases in terms of perceptions of bioeconomy concepts, opportunities, and barriers to implementation. At the same time, stakeholders across the studied cases showed broad agreement on the importance of forest-based sectors for bioeconomy development. The inclusion of cases from Central Europe and the Mekong region allows for an exploratory comparison of stakeholder perspectives across different cultural, economic, and policy settings. By bringing together these diverse contexts, the study contributes to filling knowledge gaps in less-represented regions and points to possible pathways for cross-regional cooperation, and knowledge exchange in support of forest bioeconomy development.