FPN vol 11 no 2 January 2012 - The Forest Practices Authority

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The role of community engagement in achievinga social license to operateMelanie (Lain) Dare, Research Fellow, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University,CRC for ForestryLain and her colleagues produced a handbookon community engagement within Australianplantation management earlier this year.Community engagement is an essential part ofmodern forest management, as Lain explains...It was pleasing to see an article in the lastissue of Forest Practices News detailingthe positive outcomes of a communityengagement (CE) process undertakenby Forestry Tasmania (authored by MattBurch, Forest Practices News October 2011Vol 11, Issue 1). This article highlights theimportance of CE in not only achievingoperational outcomes as described by Matt,but also the often elusive social license tooperate.CE is an essential component of modernforest management, undertaken for avariety of objectives including regulatorycompliance, effective communication withcommunity members, improved operationalefficiency and a social license to operate.While most of these CE objectives can bereadily achieved, achieving a social licenseto operate (SLO) can be complex. A SLOis especially important in industries such asforestry where there is a high level of publicinterest in commercial forest managementpractices (Vidal et al. 2010).What is a social license tooperate?The term ‘social license to operate’ hasmany definitions with most including thegranting of permission to undertake theproposed management. A useful andencompassing definition is provided byGunningham et al. (2004, p. 308) who definea SLO as the ‘demands on and expectationsfor a business enterprise that emerge fromneighbourhoods, environmental groups,community members, and other elements ofthe surrounding civil society’.The benefits of a SLO include improvedrelationships with stakeholders, improvedcorporate reputation, continuing access toresources, reduced regulation, and marketcompetitiveness (Joyce and Thompson2000; Gunningham et al. 2004). Without aSLO the commercial viability of a businessmay suffer through reduced market share,increased regulation, and product boycotts(Gunningham et al. 2004).As identified by Gunningham et al. (2004)a SLO requires forest managers tocomply with prevailing social expectations.Therefore forest managers need tocomply with current expectations of eachcommunity in which forest operations occur.Consequently forest managers must achievenot a single SLO, but multiple social licensesnegotiated with a range of stakeholders,from local- or operation-based sociallicenses to larger social licences negotiatedwith broader society.Understanding the role of CEin achieving a social license tooperateIt is widely recognised that achieving a SLOrequires effective may potentially influence communication decision-making through the and CEsharing of information, concernsis important communication mechanism.Research has shown that currentoperational CE practices undertaken in theAustralian forest industry have a limitedcapacity to achieve a SLO due to low levelsof stakeholder representation, low levelsof trust in forest managers, and narrowlyfocussed CE activities and opportunities.Achieving a SLO requires the cumulativedevelopment of legitimacy, credibility andtrust (The Social License to Operate2010). The ability to directly discuss forestmanagement objectives and practices withforest managers is an important step ofthe social license process, providing anopportunity to ‘legitimise’ managementpractices and highlight the professionalismand credibility of forest managers, andThe CRC for Forestryis established anddevelop trust, all crucial supported under theprerequisites toAustralian Goverment’sCooperative ResearchCentres Program.achieving a social license to operate.Improving CE practice in theAustralian forest industryCE as currently practised by forest managersis well suited to achieving a SLO at the locallevel, yet it is often ineffective at the broaderlevel. The current focus of CE activitieson immediate neighbours (e.g. Notice ofIntent requirements), and known or selfselectedstakeholders (those who activelyengage themselves with forest managementdecision-making processes), often restrictsthe full representation of stakeholderperspectives and hence constrains thecapacity of current CE approaches to gainthe support of broader society for a SLO.To achieve a broader societal social licenseCE needs to allow a broad range ofstakeholders to participate, potentially inforest management planning and decisionmaking.This change in CE practice requiresa greater focus on stakeholder analysisand the implementation of a range ofCRC for Forestry Handbook for operational community engagement within Australian plantation forest managementHandbook for operationalcommunity engagementwithin Australian plantationforest managementscience for sustainable forest landscapesAuthorsMelanie (Lain) DareJacki SchirmerFrank VanclayThe CE handbook was published by the CRC for Forestryin May 2011 and is available as a free download from theCRC for Forestry website (http://www.crcforestry.com.au/publications/downloads/CRCForestry-CE-FINAL.pdf).8 Forest Practices News vol 11 no 2 January 2012
The role of community engagement in achieving a social license to operateCE approaches to suit the diversity ofstakeholders. CE does not need to berestricted to operational concerns. Thehandbook for operational communityengagement within Australian plantationforest management (Dare et al. 2011)provides forest managers with relevantand realistic information on CE withincommercial forest management, includinghow to plan, design, implement and evaluateCE processes. The handbook focuses ondesigning CE to suit forest managementobjectives, and includes information on howto identify and prioritise stakeholders andhow to recognise and negotiate conflicts.Written for forest managers, the handbookdescribes case studies highlighting keychallenges and the benefits of good CE.The CE handbook was published by theCRC for Forestry in May 2011 and isavailable as a free download from theCRC for Forestry website (http://www.crcforestry.com.au/publications/downloads/CRCForestry-CE-FINAL.pdf).ReferencesDare, M, Schirmer, J and Vanclay, F 2011,Handbook for operational communityengagement within Australian plantation forestmanagement, Cooperative Research Centrefor Forestry, Hobart.Gunningham, N, Kagan, R and Thornton,D 2004, ‘Social licence and environmentalprotection: Why businesses go beyondcompliance’, Law and Social Inquiry,29(2):307–341.Joyce, S, and Thompson, I 2000, ‘Earning asocial license to operate: Social acceptabilityand resource development in Latin America’,The Canadian Mining and MetallurgicalBulletin, 93(1037)The social license to operate http://socialicense.com/ [accessed December2011]Vidal, N, Bull, G and Kozak, R 2010, ‘Diffusionof corporate responsibility practices tocompanies: The experience of the forestsector’, Journal of Business Ethics 94:553–567Author’s contact:Melanie.dare@anu.edu.auCommunity engagement is an essential part of planationestablishment in Australia.Editors’ cornerWe hope you all had a good break over thefestive season and that this issue of ForestPractices News finds you refreshed and readyto face another year.Times are tough in forestry in Tasmaniaat the moment, which is one reason whyFPA decided to go ahead with our ForestPractices Awards. There are many dedicatedworkers out there who could do with a bitof acknowledgement that they are indeeddoing a good job. We hope you enjoyreading about this year’s award winners andfeel inspired to nominate a colleague nexttime we hold the awards.This year is the first time that the FPAhas not printed the annual report. We’veJanuary 2012 Forest Practices News vol 11 no 2included a snapshot from it in this issue ofForest Practices News. We encourage youto find the full report on our new and verymuch improved web site at .This is also the first year for a long timethat we have not printed a calendar for ourreaders. We have to make cuts somewehere.We have a correction to make: in the lastForest Practices News (October 2011), inthe article ‘Geoscientist departs,’ it wasstated that Adrian Slee had been the FPA’sgeoscientist since September 2010. Infact Adrian began work with the FPA inNovember 2008.If you would like to send in a contributionto Forest Practices News, please contactthe editors. Include illustrations and aphoto of yourself with your contributions.Contributions can be supplied either as hardcopy or electronically. If forwarding materialelectronically, please ensure that figures/pictures are sent as separate files and notembedded in Word documents. The addressis: Chris.Grove@fpa.tas.gov.auChris Grove and Peter McIntoshForest Practices News EditorsDeadline for contributions to nextForest Practices News:Monday 19 March 20129
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FPN vol 11 no 2 January 2012 - The Forest Practices Authority

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