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

Abstract

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