Facilitating resolution of forest conflicts through understanding the complexity of the relationship between forest industry and environmental groups

Abstract

Conflict over the utilisation of forest resources is ubiquitous, often as a result of clashing interests and values regarding their use. Though there are positive dimensions to these conflicts, they often result in the inefficient use of the resource on which many livelihoods and societies rely. Therefore, management of these conflicts is vital. A prominent feature of these conflicts are the roles played by environmental non-government organisations (ENGOs) campaigning against the operating practices of forestry industry. The main objective of this research is to analyse the various dimensions of conflicts between ENGOs and forestry related industries, culminating in the creation of a tool to facilitate resolution. The study achieves this through examining the impact of ENGO campaigns against the operating practices of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL), a pulp and paper company in Indonesia (paper I), and the roles of legitimacy in this arena (paper II). It also examines the motivations of ENGOs, with regards to campaigns against corporations (paper III). The final paper presents a tool for facilitating resolution of complex forest conflicts (paper IV) of which relationship between ENGOs and forest industry is a key part. The research was conducted in two stages, the first stage involved interviewing and questioning various stakeholders regarding the campaigns against APRIL in order to determine their impact as well as examine the roles of legitimacy. The second stage primarily involved over 40 ENGOs completing a questionnaire to determine how they define a successful campaign, in addition this stage also involved questioning various ENGO campaign leaders related to the APRIL campaigns, and interviewing leaders of ENGO campaigning against the Finnish Forest and Park Service, a State owned enterprise, related to its operation in Upper Lapland, Finland. The interviews and questionnaires, as well as analysis of published and unpublished documents from the various organisations showed that there is a high level of complexity in conflict between the ENGOs and APRIL, as well as in the Upper Lapland conflict, based on the differing perspectives of the situation which has foundations in the interests and values of the different parties. This complexity makes resolution of the conflict very difficult, leading to the creation of a tool, ethical analysis, which may facilitate the resolution of conflicts of these types. The findings of this research have theoretical and practical implications not least the ethical analysis tool for helping to resolve conflict, but also the need, for example, of ENGOs to take measures to protect their legitimacy.