Transformative stakeholder engagement: a strategy for the SUPERB demonstration areas
Excursion in SUPERB Dutch Demo
Engaging local communities and other important stakeholders was a key part of the work undertaken by twelve forest restoration demonstration areas (demos) during the SUPERB project. In this document, you can find the overarching strategy developed by SUPERB to guide this engagement. Below, you can find out more about the positive effects that implementing this strategy had on the demos’ restoration work. The diversity of these impacts reveals the many ways in which an embedded stakeholder engagement approach can improve the efficacy and long-term sustainability of forest restoration projects.
If you are a planner, policymaker or practitioner, in this document you will be able to find examples of how to embed co-creation and shared decision-making within forest restoration. The document also offers advice on stakeholder mapping, practical engagement formats, communication strategies, and a framework for overcoming barriers to stakeholder engagement.
The strategy included in this document is grounded in a transformative stakeholder engagement approach that moves beyond the traditional practice of consultations to co-creating forest restoration processes with local actors. Incorporating diverse perspectives and knowledge in restoration decision-making, it is geared towards advancing effective, sustainable and socially-just forest and forest landscape management in Europe.
The impact of implementing this strategy is now clear: all SUPERB restoration demos saw positive results from the stakeholder engagement they undertook, including new collaboration opportunities, broader knowledge-sharing, and increased potential for restoration upscaling.
Below you can find the key impacts reported by the demos.
- Positive perceptions of the project (as a result of engagement/clear communication) made it easier for restoration actions to be undertaken and for project partners to undertake work in the same area in the future (10 demos)
- Stakeholder engagement facilitated more widespread knowledge sharing, inspiring local forest managers and owners, and increasing potential for the replication of restoration actions in other areas (6 demos)
- Involving key stakeholders led to new partnerships and collaboration initiatives, which help to increase knowledge-sharing and promote upscaling restoration efforts (4 demos)
- Sustained stakeholder engagement helped to build consensus among key stakeholders, thereby avoiding or mitigating conflicts which could impede restoration efforts or upscaling (6 demos)
- Involving stakeholders in decision-making processes has made them more receptive to new ideas and approaches (4 demos)
- Stakeholder engagement enabled the demo project partners to understand the needs of local communities and to adapt their plans accordingly, increasing the communities’ sense of ownership over the project and/or the effectiveness of the restoration actions and plans (5 demos)
- Engaging stakeholders led to potential financing opportunities, which could help to sustain the project’s actions/results after it ends (4 demos)
Kind of License: Proprietary
- Implementation
- Planning & Upscaling
- Social & Stakeholder
- Landowners & Practitioners
- Planners & Implementers
- Policy Actors
- Social and cultural values
- Landscape