Stakeholder engagement in water policy: Lessons from peri-urban irrigation

In highly urbanised Australia many cities and towns demand may have exceeded existing water supply. In peri-urban areas this can lead to conflict over access to supplies with priority often given to urban users. In an effort to resolve potential conflicts, water management planning often seeks to engage ‘community stakeholders’ in an attempt to produce a ‘harmonised’ strategic plan. In this paper we focus on the process of developing one such plan for sustainable water management in a peri-urban area with complex and conflicting stakeholder interests. We subject data from a series of planning meetings and ‘stakeholder’ workshops to a critical review and analysis against the project's stated aims for this stage of the process of: engaging key stakeholders, developing a common vision, and deciding research priorities. We conclude that the approach was unable to achieve these strategic outcomes. In discussion we explore how this analysis reflects barriers in the engagement process, which highlight more general concerns about this widely accepted model for stakeholder engagement in resource issues.     

Brownfield regeneration in Europe: Identifying stakeholder perceptions,concerns, attitudes and information needs

Brownfield areas are a major concern in Europe because they are often extensive, persistent in time and compromise stakeholders’ interests. Moreover, due to their complex nature, from the decision-making point of view, the regeneration of brownfields is a challenging problem requiring the involvement of the whole range of stakeholders. Many studies, projects and organisations have recognised the importance of stakeholder involvement and have promoted public participation. However, comprehensive studies providing an overview of stakeholders’ perceptions, concerns, attitudes and information needs when dealing with brownfield regeneration are still missing.This paper presents and discusses a participatory methodology applied to stakeholders from five European countries to fill this research gap, to develop a system to support the categorisation of the needed information and to support the understanding of which typology of information is the most relevant for specific categories of stakeholders also in relation with their concerns.The engagement process consists of five phases: (i) planning and preparatory work, (ii) identification of stakeholder categories, (iii) engagement activities (e.g. focus groups and workshops), (iv) submission of a questionnaire and (v) provision of feedback to the involved stakeholders.Thanks to this process, appropriate stakeholders have been identified as well as their perceptions, concerns, attitudes and information needs. Stakeholders’ perceptions proved to be different according to the country: German and Italian stakeholders perceive brownfields as complex systems, where several issues need to be addressed, while Romanian stakeholders consider contamination as almost the only issue to be addressed; Czech and Polish stakeholders address an intermediate number of issues. Attitudes and concerns seemed to be quite similar between countries. As far as information needs are concerned, similarities between some groups of stakeholders have been noticed: site owners and problem holders are primarily interested in information on planning and financing, while authorities and services providers are interested in more technical aspects like investigation, planning and risk assessment. Some outstanding outcomes emerged from the scientific community and research group, which showed an interest for remediation strategies and options and socio-economic aspects.The research outcomes allowed to create a knowledge base for the future development of tailored and customised approaches and tools for stakeholders working in the brownfield regeneration field.     

仪陇县速丰林发展现状及对策

林业经济对仪陇县的经济发展具有非常重要的意义,仪陇县政府部门高度重视当地的速丰林产业的发展,加大了发展速丰林产业的力度,有计划有重点的发展速丰林产业建设。这样在仪陇县速丰林产业发展中虽然取得了一定的成就,但是也存在不少的问题。为了推动仪陇县速丰林产业更好的发展,就需要重视这些问题。首先分析仪陇县速丰林产业的发展现状,然后提出当前仪陇县速丰林产业发展中存在的问题,最后根据实际情况提出解决的对策。     

Forest plantations in Paraguay: Historical developments and a critical diagnosis in a SWOT-AHP framework

Over the last century, Paraguay has seen deforestation on a massive scale. At the same time, forest plantation efforts have been very limited. This paper examines why this is the case, and why until today investment in forest plantations in Paraguay is constrained despite visible wood shortages. Paraguay’s forest plantation sector is analyzed based on a typology of five plantation paradigms. This is followed by a critical diagnosis of the current plantation situation on the project level conducted through a SWOT-AHP analysis and supported by an expert survey. Thirty-six specific factors for establishing plantations are identified and evaluated for both small-scale and large-scale plantations. The analysis reveals strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for both plantation types, and shows that small-scale plantations possess more highly valued strengths, while there are more significant threats for large-scale plantations. Critical conclusions and policy implications for expanding the scale of forest plantations in Paraguay are provided, focusing on forestry, institutional, political and intersectoral issues.     

森林资源对中国人造板产业国际竞争力的影响分析

通过实证,分析了森林资源对中国人造板产业国际竞争力的影响。研究结果表明,虽然中国人工造林面积居世界第一,但人工林经营管理水平不高,通过森林认证水平低,对进一步提高中国人造板产业国际竞争力十分不利。通过进口、对外直接投资可部分缓解原材料的供需矛盾,但从长远看,加快工业原料林培育是解决中国人造板产业原材料供应不足的根本途径。     

An assessment of the policies and practices of selective logging and timber utilisation: A case study from natural forests of Tarai Nepal and Queensland Australia

Selective logging (SL) contributes nearly 15 percent of the global timber needs. Considering its role in sustainable timber production, biodiversity conservation and forest carbon enhancement, assessment of SL policies and practices is crucial. This paper assesses the policies and practices of SL in natural production forests of the Tarai region of Nepal and Queensland Australia to explore the key differences in such policies and practices and their possible implications in achieving sustainable forest management objectives. The primary methods applied in the study were review and synthesis of key policy documents and qualitative analysis of the information gathered from key informant interviews and stakeholders’ workshop. Altogether, 53 respondents from a wide range of stakeholder groups (government organizations-15, non-government organizations/networks-15, private sector including the individual landowners-13, local political leaders-3 and independent forest experts/scientists-7) were consulted. Findings suggest that: (1) frequent and inconsistent changes in policy provisions, lengthy administrative procedures and heavy engagement of state forest agencies in forest product harvesting and sales processes play key roles in sub-optimal forest production in Nepal, whereas lower dependency on forest-products, higher labour costs, lack of species-wise royalty rate and flexibility in selecting optional logs are the key factors for increased wastages of forest products in Queensland; (2) recovery and utilisation of the harvested forest product is better in Nepal but policy and practical considerations on biodiversity and environment are better in Queensland; and (3) Forest harvesting specific codes of practice, occupational health and safety standards, and their compliance mechanism of Queensland could be beneficial for Nepal to minimise operational harvesting risks and to attract professional harvesters that support promoting sustainable use and management of natural forests, as we found this aspect almost neglected in Nepal.     

Perceptions of public land governance from two Canadian provinces: How is the social agenda being met through sustainable forest management?

This article presents a comparative assessment of current spaces for public involvement in Crown (public) land management in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. More specifically, it addresses the barriers to public participation by examining the agency-client relationship – specifically, through the theoretical lens of capture – as an impediment to the inclusion of values that are outside the traditional, technocratic management realm of public forest management. Without public input, the public’s needs, values, and desires are not articulated and the social side of sustainable forest management is likely to be neglected. Low levels of trust in public land management agencies in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, coupled with minimal space for public involvement, have created the perception of a policy network that is dominated by industry and/or government and provides minimal space for other interests. The primary research method is an online survey informed by forty-two interviews. The survey was administered to 89 key forestry stakeholders in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Participation observation and a document analysis are utilized to complement the survey. This research finds that (1) although survey participants come from diverse affiliations and two provinces with different forest policy and unique approaches to public participation, there is essential consensus of the need for an improvement of public involvement processes for public land; (2) trust in the forest industry and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is extremely low in both provinces. Even with recent participatory efforts in Nova Scotia, the trust level is lower than in the neighboring province of New Brunswick. Some participants connect this distrust to privileged access for certain interest groups and a closed policy network; (3) barriers to participatory processes differ between provinces, especially a fear of retribution, which is specific to New Brunswick; and (4) key stakeholders identify barriers to engagement that they perceive to be different for themselves and the general public.     

Developing Policy for Communities Managing Diffuse Source Pollution: A Case Study from Subtropical Catchments of NSW,Australia

Each individual and organisation differs in the way they perceive, define and act upon social, economic and environmental issues. One such issue is pollution of coastal waterways from acid sulphate soils in coastal wetlands in Australia. These soils, when oxidised, acidify water resulting in extensive destruction in the downstream ecosystem. While the impacts of the acidification are extensive and external agencies are demanding change, current policies do not reflect the complexity of the relationships between the stakeholders.

This paper analyses the effectiveness of current policies. How do we define and manage the change process? Drawing on results from two benchmarking surveys conducted in 1998 and 2002, this paper provides insights into why change is happening in three industry groups that are managing diffuse source pollution from acid sulphate soils. Findings indicated that stakeholders frequently did not identify with the government visions and were unaware of the regulations. High compliance with regulations was dependent upon best management practices and education strategies. We discuss how to develop policies to promote the change process with diverse stakeholder groups, and explore why stakeholders resist change. Such findings can have applicability to any organisation involved in the management of diffuse source pollution.     

林下产业精准扶贫典型案例分析

选取云南省泸水市三河村为典型案例,通过对150户林农进行问卷调查以及与当地相关负责部门座谈,分析三河村林下产业发展以及扶贫开发的现状,明确林农在林下产业经营、组织形式开展以及技能培训实施方面的选择意愿。结果表明:林农发展林下产业的积极性较高,但在发展过程中,林农会遇到资金、技术等方面的困难;林农参与合作社的比例较高,且合作社为林农提供了科技、生产以及贷款等方面的服务,但企业的入驻率较低,林农对企业的了解程度不深;林农愿意接受各类技能培训,对已开展的培训效果较为满意,同时林农倾向接受技术类、经营管理类培训。因此,提出政府科学规划积极引导;合作社、企业加强宣传提供培训;林农转变思想主动发展等建议。     

REDD+ and the agriculture frontier: Understanding colonists’ utilization of the land

Given the importance of the agricultural frontier as an engine of deforestation, this paper focuses on how colonists (from the Spanish word for “colonists” that is used to describe migrants to the agricultural frontier), who are important and largely overlooked stakeholders, perceive the new climate mitigation mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+). We aimed (1) to document colonists’ land use, perceptions, needs, and aspirations and (2) to understand if and how they could be taken into account under REDD+ policies. The study, including multiple data collection techniques (e.g., focus group, interviews, and participatory activities), was conducted in eastern Panama. Three areas that were adjacent to the Province of Darien border were chosen because of their similar forested landscapes and varying accessibility to a main road. Our results suggest that land use preferences, culture, forest scarcity and dependency, inequalities (e.g., land use, amount of forest, and land area), and lack of technical capacities are key elements to be considered when developing a REDD+ strategy with colonist communities. We propose that halting deforestation without both considering local communities’ perceptions and giving effective alternatives could seriously undermine livelihoods.     

The evolution of forest producer associations and their current role in REDD+: case studies from Quintana Roo,Mexico

Forest associations (secondary-level institutions that support and represent groups of forest producer communities) play an important and understudied role in promoting community forestry in a multi-level forest governance context in many countries. This role continually evolves to meet new demands from their constituents, with associations diversifying into activities that bring new governance issues, interests, organizational logics and capacity needs. As community forestry in many countries is being integrated into REDD+ national strategies, questions arise regarding new roles for these associations. Through a case study of two forest associations in Quintana Roo, Mexico, this study traces the history and evolution of these associations as they react and adapt to a changing forest sector, uses forest stakeholders’ opinions to assess the associations’ current status and perceived importance of their involvement in the forest sector, and examines how current opinions and historical legacy have shaped their role in REDD+ in Mexico. Results show that association members and outsiders (mostly government stakeholders) hold divergent views of the utility of these organizations. Outsiders’ negative perceptions, as well as the niche that the associations are currently in, is largely determining their limited participation in REDD+ consultation and implementation to date. This is a missed opportunity to engage important allies who still hold high legitimacy in the eyes of the communities that will be the ultimate implementers of REDD+.     

The financial benefits of forest certification: Case studies of acacia growers and a furniture company in Central Vietnam

The demand for forest products is growing and plantation forests are supplying an increasing proportion of wood to industry. There are also increasing market requirements to demonstrate the sustainability of timber supply. Vietnam has some 3.9 M ha of plantation forests, 44% of which is on short-rotations managed by smallholders. More than 80 percent of the harvested volume from the plantation forests is used for woodchip production to serve domestic and international markets. The Vietnam Government has goals to increase the domestic supply of suitable wood for furniture production to international markets by increasing the supply of larger logs grown in plantations and the supply of certified wood to industry. However, it is not clear that these objectives will necessarily benefit growers and processors. This study compared financial returns from certified and non-certified forest products for: (1) growers with 10-year rotation acacia plantations; and (2) a furniture processing business (battens for chair and table) in Quang Tri Province, Central Vietnam. The data were collected from smallholder tree growers and a sawmilling company, triangulated with and supplemented by formal and informal interviews with other stakeholders. Currently, much of the cost of certification is met by external aid donors. Results showed that net returns from both certified and non-certified timber products are positive for both actors and are higher from certified timber production than non-certified timber production. When the full costs of certification are included, the benefits to growers of certification are much reduced and potentially negative unless the fixed costs can be spread over a large group of growers. A minimum of group with 3000 ha may be required to make certification cost effective. In recent years, the price difference between the certified and non-certified logs is narrowing and this may discourage farmers from attaining certification. For the sawmiller, the benefit of certified timber production is greater. It would be in their interests to increase prices paid to growers for certified logs. Government policy measures to support certification should include consideration of who bears the cost, support for aggregation of smallholder growers and improved communication in timber supply chains.     

我国商品林业的发展前景与对策

我国的商品林业有了长足的发展，但仍存在机制不活、经营单一，与林业产业联系不紧密、科技投入不足等许多问题，提出了通过逐步完善商品林经营机制，建立高效商品林经营模式，加大科技投入，提高其科技含量，建立多渠道的投融资，完善商品林业市场环境等具体对策，以促进我国商品林业的快速发展。     

新形势下吉林森工集团产业发展研究

分析吉林森工集团产业发展的现状和目前存在的主要问题,提出按照投资主体多元化的原则,大力发展森工后续产业;重新设计森林资源管理体制,实行林产工业和营林业的统一经营;走特色产业之路,大力发展替代产业;进行新一轮的合并、重组,实施全球化战略等产业发展对策及建议。强调了在加强生态建设的同时,必须高度重视林产工业的发展壮大。     

An economic assessment of options for operating within plantation forestry water entitlements and tightening cap and trade policy

The Green Triangle (GT) region of southern Australia is one of only two jurisdictions globally to licence plantation forestry's groundwater use. In response to declines in groundwater resources caused by historical plantation expansion, reductions in forest water allocations (~50%) are likely for some parts of the region, presenting novel challenges for forest managers in maintaining revenues and timber flows. This article presents a mathematical programming model evaluation of water trade opportunities for plantation forest owners to adapt to reduced water entitlements and explores how tightening groundwater policy could affect forestry returns and land use mix for the region. Results suggest that even absent opportunity to sell water, relatively limited 11% reduction in return could be expected for a large (−50%) water entitlement and (−48%) land-use change out of forestry. Results suggest that opportunities for forestry companies to sell water entitlements may allow them to maintain or even increase combined returns from forestry and water sales. Whilst the results highlight the adaptive capacity of the plantation forestry sector to operate within reduced water entitlement, a significant sectoral and regional economy adjustment would be likely. The discussion focusses on the potential to realise optimisation model-identified adaptation opportunities accounting for real-world thin markets, transaction costs and market friction.     

Need for a cross-sector approach in protected area management

The need for various stakeholders to harmonize their policies and practices has emerged as a dominant paradigm for 21st century natural resource management. Cross-sector coordination is promising because it can enhance policy consistency, enable the realization of synergies and resolve conflicts among sectors regarding resource management. The extent to which ministries and their main stakeholders make efforts to achieve integrated policies for nature conservation requires further research. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the consultation reports of ministries from relevant fields (i.e., environmental protection, agriculture, spatial planning, and security) regarding the management plans for Romania’s protected areas. We analysed and visualized 152 consultation reports (2013–2016) covering 15% of Romania's protected areas using self-organizing maps (SOMs), an unsupervised machine-learning method. Our results showed that considerable attention was paid to formal issues in these reports. The cross-sector issues that emerged as the most important were those related to forest landowner consultation, and the harmonization of agricultural and forestry practices, as well as spatial plans for conservation. The resulting SOMs could be used as a tool to strengthen protected area management in the future because they can (i) guide managers of protected areas to develop plans that ensure that resources will be used in the best way according to the visions of multiple sectors and (ii) help the relevant ministries to improve future consultation reports.     

把握形势促进发展——兼论东北林区的改革与发展

如何改革与发展，仍是东北国有林区未解之谜。根据林业的国际发展趋势和我国林业发展的历史经验教训，特别是在森林资源极度过伐的状况下，如何进行东北国有林区改革，是目前亟待研究的问题。笔者认为，从资源本身考虑，主要是让森林资源有一个自然恢复的时间；从体制方面考虑，首先要政企分开，然后彻底改变目前的森工管理体制，恢复营林的经营体制，并与国家改革与发展要求同步创新；改革所需经费，要由国家财政解决，因为林区目前处于无能为力的状态。     

Social learning: A knowledge and capacity building approach for adaptive co-management of contested landscapes

There is increasing recognition in the field of natural resource management that transformative adaptation to climate and policy change requires cross industry learning and cooperation at the landscape scale. This can be supported by the development of systematic methodology on learning models for adaptive co-management between diverse and conflicting landscape managers. Our example of land-use change to hardwood plantation forestry in sub-tropical Australia illustrates an innovative implementation framework for a social learning process that helped build knowledge and community capacity for adaptive co-management of dynamic and shared landscapes. The action research methodology relied on deliberation over local knowledge, existing and emergent scientific findings, resulting in attitudinal change. Processes required facilitation and mediation by a bridging organisation, in this case a research institution, to support cross-scale communications. Reflections suggest that attention is required to manage risk and support stakeholder analysis, particularly in understanding contested values and overcoming power differentials between industry and self-interest groups. Resolving funding issues will require greater consideration by governments and industry groups of their social responsibilities to communities and the environment; particularly as this social learning model is posited for more broad-scale use in providing multi-level governance linkages and as a basis for targeting interventions to address policy gaps or failure.     

新型林业经营主体林权抵押贷款的现状及对策——以浙江省为例

基于浙江省林业厅的统计数据,研究新型林业经营主体林权抵押贷款的现状。结果表明:林业金融资本不足是浙江省林业市场主体面临的主要问题之一,而作为融资工具的林权抵押贷款,存在着部门管理机制不健全、林地流转不畅通、保险机制不健全、评估机构专业化欠缺、担保机构不完善以及扶持政策不到位等问题。因此建议:提升发展新型林业经营主体、加强部门联动机制建设;完善林权抵押贷款的配套服务机构;加强林业产业政策环境建设。     

Absent neighbours and passive shareholders – The issue of residency and involvement in the management of a forest common

The Swedish forest commons can be regarded as self-organized community groups which jointly manage a forest resource. However, previous studies point out the diminishing role and engagement of shareholders in terms of governance, thereby challenging some vital design principles of robust common-pool resource institutions. We assume that major reasons for this is associated with socio-demographic changes meaning a large proportion of shareholders do not live in the area. Therefore this study compares resident and non-resident shareholder participation in and perceptions about their common, as well as assesses their engagement in the management of one major forest common in Northern Sweden. To this end a questionnaire survey was conducted together with regular consultations with the common's board and staff to discuss shareholder participation and other major issues concerning the common.The study shows that the common has a low shareholder engagement and a high proportion of non-resident shareholders. Even though a large proportion of resident shareholders acknowledged benefits from the common, they were also less satisfied with the cooperation among shareholders and less optimistic about the possibilities to influence management decisions. In contrast, the majority of non-resident shareholders saw ‘no disadvantages’ of the common. Although most of the shareholders regularly visit the common, hardly any participate in the general meetings. While residency outside the municipality certainly seems to have an impact on the engagement of non-resident shareholders, our study suggests that simple strategies from the board including accessible information and better timing and/or location of meetings might even increase the participation among all shareholders.