Understanding the social bases of satisfaction with public participation in forest management decision-making in British Columbia

Abstract

This study draws upon the results of a survey of the general public in three communities in British Columbia to examine the social bases of satisfaction with public participation in forest management decision-making at both the local and provincial levels. The main findings are that those members of the general public who are relatively more biocentrically oriented (as indicated by the NEP Scale) are less satisfied, and those who have acquaintanceship ties to people employed in the forestry sector are more satisfied. Women and those with more education were less satisfied (at the provincial level), and Vancouver residents were more satisfied (compared to Kelowna and Armstrong residents). Overall, satisfaction with public participation in forest management decision-making was relatively low. It was, however, slightly higher at the local level than at the provincial scale. Policy and research implications of this study are discussed.Key words: social networks, public participation, gender, New Ecological Paradigm, satisfaction with forest management, and sustainable forest management RÉSUMÉCette étude porte sur les résultats d'un sondage effectué auprès du grand public dans trois communautés de la ColombieBritannique dans le but d' étudier les références sociales de la satisfaction rattachée à la participation du public lors de la prise de décision portant sur l'aménagement forestier tant au niveau local que provincial. Les principaux éléments retenus indiquent que les personnes en provenance du grand public qui ont une orientation centrée surtout sur la nature (tel qu'indiqué selon l' échelle NEP) sont moins satisfaites et celles qui ont des contacts avec des gens à l' emploi du secteur forestier sont plus satisfaites. Les femmes et les personnes ayant un niveau de scolarité plus élevé sont moins satisfaites (au niveau provincial) et les résidants de Vancouver sont plus satisfaits (comparativement aux résidants de Kelowna et d' Armstrong). Somme toute, la satisfaction portant sur la participation du public lors de la prise de décision en aménage-ment forestier était relativement faible. Elle était, toutefois, légèrement supérieure au niveau local dans l' ensemble de la province. Les implications de cette étude en matière de politiques et de recherche sont présentées.Mots clés : réseaux sociaux, participation publique, sexe, nouveau paradigme de l' écologie, satisfaction reliée à l'aménage-ment forestier, aménagement forestier durable

A Participatory Approach to Evaluating Strategies for Forest Carbon Mitigation in British Columbia

“…These results are in line with previous studies evaluating public priorities for forest management in BC, which generally find a preference for environmental values over social and economic values [12,45]. Our study also highlights the high importance of procedural objectives, indicating that stakeholders and Indigenous Peoples are as concerned about the fairness, effectiveness, and inclusiveness of the decision-making process as they are about its outcomes [49,50]. Perhaps the most important result lies in the finding that mitigating climate change, while perceived as important, is not considered as the highest priority, but as just one of many objectives that should be considered when developing forest carbon management strategies.…”

“…Interestingly, procedural objectives are less frequently highlighted by these studies, even though the category appears in many well-known lists of criteria and indicators, often under a category referring to policy, legal, and/or institutional issues [46][47][48]. Other studies, by analysing public participation in forest management, specifically focus on procedural objectives [49]. For analysis purposes, the 11-point continuous linguistic scale used for the group evaluation of the mitigation strategies was transformed into numeric scores.…”

Surprisingly malleable public preferences for climate adaptation in forests

“…This effect may relate to perceived scientific uncertainty; research and monitoring would enable ongoing improvements in implementation and quicker detection of unexpected and problematic impacts, which may otherwise go unnoticed. Respondents also reported high levels of public trust in scientists and low public trust in government and industry in the BC context (Tindall et al 2010, Peterson St-Laurent et al 2019. AM may, therefore, be more acceptable when scientists are perceived to inform policy and management decisions.…”

The Use of Decision Support Systems in Forest Management: Analysis of FORSYS Country Reports

“…A recent review of the literature [31] found that the first publication mentioning the application of participatory planning to FMDSS was presented in the 1990s. Examining current trends in FMDSS, participatory planning is the most recent addition into the conceptual framework of FMDSS [13,14,32,33].…”