IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

IUCN’s recently completed forest governance project, Strengthening Voices for Better Choices (SVBC), convened and facilitated multi-stakeholder dialogues at various levels in 6 tropical forest countries. These dialogues sought to bring different stakeholders together to identify, discuss and negotiate forest governance arrangements leading to more sustainable and equitable forest use. Despite facing challenges in ensuring meaningful participation, balancing power relations, and ensuring an open and informed exchange of views, the dialogues provided valuable lessons in how people can engage effectively in decision making on forests.

For example, in the case of participatory forest management, SVBC facilitated discussions between communities living around the Ngumburuni Forest Reserve in Rufiji district, Tanzania, and the district council. This dialogue supported the development of joint forest management plans and agreements for the Forest Reserve. At the same time, SVBC strengthened the capacity of villagers to participate in the dialogue through training in forest laws and community forest monitoring. In Sri Lanka, SVBC worked with villagers, private landowners, forestry officials and other stakeholders in the buffer zone of the Knuckles Environment Protection Area to ensure that management decisions better reflect local needs and interests. The project helped to establish a multi-stakeholder forum which meets yearly to review management of Knuckles.

In the case of forest law enforcement, governance and trade (FLEGT) reform processes, SVBC was asked by the government of Ghana to design and facilitate the multi-stakeholder consultations for its negotiations with the European Union on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). These consultations made a special effort to reach out to forest-fringe communities and other local forest users, thereby strengthening the ownership and credibility of the VPA signed in September 2008. The consultation structure designed by IUCN was later adopted by Liberia for its VPA process, and is providing a model for other African VPA countries. In Vietnam, SVBC contributed to the emerging FLEGT/VPA process by facilitating the first national multi-stakeholder meetings on the subject in 2008. These gave rise to a process of inquiry and debate which IUCN continues to support today.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, SVBC contributed to an emerging system of multi-level forest governance by establishing or supporting multi-stakeholder platforms at local, territorial and provincial levels. At the root of this system are village dialogue and vigilance committees, small interactive groups which promote internal village cooperation, joint problem solving and collaboration with external actors such as logging companies and local authorities. In the state of Acre, Brazil, SVBC was active in supporting multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral dialogues aimed at developing strategies for better and more sustainable forest management in Acre. The project’s efforts here contributed to some notable successes, including the restructuring of Acre’s State Forest Council to improve civil society participation.

If you'd like more details on this project, please contact the IUCN Forest Conservation Programme at forests@iucn.org.