The effectiveness of public participation in forest management: A case study analysis of the Morice Innovative Forest Practices Agreement

2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason R Jabbour ◽  
David Balsillie
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Forest Management Planning ◽  
Forest Practices

In recent decades, the context in which institutions of forest management make decisions to formulate management priorities has changed radically. Today, it is widely accepted that members of the public should be involved in decision-making. Despite a tremendous gain in support, however, previous literature remains critical of the design, implementation and effectiveness of public participation processes. In seeking to identify the attributes that constitute successful public participation, we conducted a critical assessment of a current process. This paper reveals the results of a case study of a land use and forest management planning initiative in central British Columbia. Our primary data include: document review; qualitative interviews with citizen members actively involved in the process (n = 14); and a random telephone survey (n = 100) of local residents (response rate = 45.6%). Through the application of six a priori evaluation criteria, we establish strengths, weaknesses and gaps of the process. Results of the study reflect a lack of institutional mechanisms in place to ensure appropriate public access and adequate representation. The findings also indicate that the incorporation of teamwork, collaborative learning and two-way information flow are important as a basis for constructive and effective public participation. Finally, we argue that the value added by such attributes can be enhanced through better design and facilitation at both the structural and operational levels. Key words: public participation, public involvement, public representation, sustainable forest management, Innovative Forest Practices Agreement

Participatory decision support for sustainable forest management: a framework for planning with local communities at the landscape level in Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1515-1526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen RJ Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Multicriteria Analysis ◽  
Management Scenarios ◽  
Landscape Level

There is an increasing demand for active public involvement in forestry decision making, but there are as yet few established models for achieving this in the new sustainable forest management (SFM) context. At the level of the working forest, the fields of forest sustainability assessment, public participation, decision support, and computer technology in spatial modelling and visualization need to be integrated. This paper presents the results of a literature review of public participation and decision-support methods, with emphasis on case study examples in participatory decision support. These suggest that emerging methods, such as public multicriteria analysis of alternative forest management scenarios and allied tools, may lend themselves to public processes addressing sustainability criteria and indicators. The paper develops a conceptual framework for participatory decision support to address the special needs of SFM in tactical planning at the landscape level. This framework consists of principles, process criteria, and preliminary guidelines for designing and evaluating SFM planning processes with community input. More well-documented studies are needed to develop comprehensive, engaging, open, and accountable processes that support informed decision making in forest management, and to strengthen guidance for managers.

Analysis of the relationship among stakeholders affected by sustainable forest management and forest certification

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 961-965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc-André Côté ◽  
Luc Bouthillier
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Forest Certification ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Forest Practices ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Relationship

Supporters of sustainable forest management and forest certification are seeking to improve worldwide forest practices. Groups involved in the forest sector will have to adapt themselves to respect new environmental regulations, standards, and agreements linked to these two new concepts. Some forest stakeholders will lose several of their long-time privileges under the pressure of new actors involved in sustainable forest management. Forest managers will have to consider more social values in their planning than they used before. Sustainable forest management and forest certification thus have the potential to resolve, through public participation processes, old conflicts between stakeholders involved in forest management. However, these same processes could be the source of new conflicts. This article analyzes the ways in which relationships between forest stakeholders could be affected by new sustainable forest management rules. Key words: sustainable forest management, certification, forest stakeholder, public participation

scholarly journals Sustainability in Forest Management Revisited Using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Techniques

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Ezquerro ◽  
Marta Pardos ◽  
Luis Diaz-Balteiro
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Forest Management Planning ◽  
Goal Programming Model ◽  
Priority Levels ◽  
Lexicographic Goal Programming

Since its origins, the idea of sustainability has always been linked to forest management. However, nowadays, sustainable forest management has usually been approached by defining a set of criteria and indicators. This paper aims to address sustainability in forest management including a set of criteria encompassing the most common decisions: whether the stands are even or uneven-aged, and the optimal silviculture that should be applied in each stand. For this purpose, a lexicographic goal programming model with two priority levels has been defined, into which six different criteria are integrated. Each criterion corresponds to a particular pillar (economic, technical, or environmental). Furthermore, also incorporated into the model are the preferences of diverse stakeholders, both for the criteria considered in the analysis and for the most suitable silvicultural alternatives to be applied in each stand. This methodology has been applied to a case study in Spain, and the results show much more attractive solutions than the current forest management planning, allowing the obtainment of multi-aged systems that could be favourable for other ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Participatory requirements in forest management planning in Eastern Canada: A temporal and interprovincial perspective

2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Lecomte ◽  
Catherine Martineau-Delisle ◽  
Solange Nadeau
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Forest Management Planning

With the introduction of the concept of sustainable forest management, the practice of public participation has become omnipresent. This study focuses on provincial participatory requirements in forest management planning (FMP). A comparative framework composed of four participatory process attributes (power, moment of participation, learning/interaction, and procedure) was used to obtain a temporal and interprovincial perspective of Quebec's new participatory process. Our results indicate that with respect to past processes Quebec's current approach allows certain stakeholders, but not the general public, to have more access to FMP. Comparatively, Ontario and Newfoundland have implemented different, clearly stated, approaches that involve the general public at numerous stages of FMP. Future research should concentrate on how these participatory requirements are implemented and on the public satisfaction with regard to this implementation. Key words: public participation, forest management planning, descriptive framework, Canada, Quebec, sustainable forest management

scholarly journals Forest management planning in Newfoundland and Labrador: The Western Newfoundland Model Forest contribution

2002 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 655-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Len Moores ◽  
Sean Dolter
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Forest Management Planning ◽  
Forest Managers

The management of forests has dramatically changed in the past few decades. Forest managers no longer can prepare and implement forest management plans in isolation of other resource values and local citizens. Today, the economic, ecological and social values are blended together into sustainable forest management. Finding a balance among these values in Newfoundland and Labrador is done through local district planning teams. The team participants need to understand the principles of sustainable forest management and the overall planning process. A primary focus of the Western Newfoundland Model Forest has been to support planning teams through the development of management tools to enhance management of the Province’s forest ecosystems. The Model forest program will continue to test, document and transfer new and innovative management options to forest managers. Key words: adaptive management, consensus, sustainable forest management, planning teams, public involvement, model forests

Forest management strategies for dealing with fire-related uncertainty when managing two forest seral stages

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Savage ◽  
David L. Martell ◽  
B. Mike Wotton
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Simulation Model ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Planning Model ◽  
Minimum Area ◽  
Forest Management Planning ◽  
Planning Models

Ecological values are an important aspect of sustainable forest management, but little attention has been paid to maintaining these values when using traditional linear programming (LP) forest management planning models in uncertain planning environments. We embedded an LP planning model that specifies when and how much to harvest in a simulation model of a “managed” flammable forest landscape. The simulation model was used to evaluate two strategies for dealing with fire-related uncertainty when managing mature and old forest areas. The two seral stage areas were constrained in the LP planning model to a minimum of 10% of the total forest area and the strategies were evaluated under four representative fire regimes. We also developed a risk analysis tool that can be used by forest managers that wish to incorporate fire-related uncertainty in their decision-making. We found that use of the LP model would reduce the areas of the mature and old forest to their lower bound and fire would further reduce the seral areas below those levels, particularly when the mean annual burn fraction exceeds 0.45% per annum. Increasing the minimum area required (i.e., the right-hand side of the constraint) would increase the likelihood of satisfying the minimum area requirements.

scholarly journals Public participation in British Columbia forest management

2010 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
H W Harshaw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Resource Management ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Forest Planning And Management ◽  
Planning Processes

Conceptions and challenges of public participation in British Columbia are reviewed to identify those characteristicsof planning processes that serve to benefit or constrain the interests and needs of public stakeholders. Perspectives onpublic participation, including representative and participatory democracies, and approaches to incorporating publicperspectives in decision-making (i.e., shared decision-making, consensus-building, and interest-based negotiation) arepresented to demonstrate the different approaches (and their benefits and challenges) available for providing opportunitiesfor public participation. Lessons from other natural resource management contexts are distilled and used to evaluatethe BC context. Three principal forest planning and management frameworks (the Commission on Resources and theEnvironment, Land and Resource Management Plans, and sustainable forest management certification) are examinedin light of whether meaningful opportunities for public participation were provided.Key words: public participation, British Columbia, Commission on Resources and the Environment, Land and ResourceManagement Plans, sustainable forest management certification

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