The Model Forest Program in Canada: Building consensus on sustainable forest management

Contemporary sustainable development theory recognizes the need for participants in resource management issues to work in partnership to build consensus on options for moving forward. Thus, building consensus within cooperative multi-stakeholder partnership settings is receiving considerable attention from governments and resource managers alike. In Canada, the Model Forest Program was developed with an eye to bringing traditional adversaries in forest resource management issues to the same table to build consensus on programs, policies, and approaches to achieving sustainable forest management. This article applies the "Guiding Principles" for building consensus for a sustainable future, developed by the Round Tables on the Environment and Economy in Canada, to the Canadian Model Forest Program, in general, and specifically to the Manitoba Model Forest. This is done to illuminate the approaches to working together to build consensus on sustainable forest management attempted by disparate stakeholder organizations.