Learning from adaptive collaborative management: A participatory tool to support adaptive and reflective learning in multi-stakeholder forums

Multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) are, by definition, organized attempts at collaboration. Given the current interest and investment in MSFs in development and conservation circles, CIFOR worked with subnational MSFs organized for more sustainable land and resource use in Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Peru. Research revealed that although much optimism is placed on MSFs, their organizers believed their forums fostered equity simply by inviting more actors to the table and thus placed little effort on addressing the power inequalities between their participants. Recognizing this challenge, and taking lessons from adaptive collaborative management, CIFOR researchers embarked on a collaboration with MSF participants to develop an adaptive and reflexive learning tool to allow forum participants to monitor and reflect on their work. The purpose of this reflection is to learn from the past, consider progress and obstacles to further progress, and collectively plan how to achieve the MSF’s goals in the future. The chapter presents a synthesis of the research findings that led to tool development, the tool’s development process, and the effort to use ACM more effectively in participatory monitoring

Multi-stakeholder forums and the promise of more equitable and sustainable land and resource use: perspectives from Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Peru

Multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) have become a popular mechanism in global development and conservation circles, given the urgency to find transformative approaches to address climate change and unsustainable development. In this current context, it is important to take stock of MSFs, an example of a participatory mechanism that is emerging as a new ‘solution’. The papers in this Special Issue of the International Forestry Review derive from a multi-country comparative research project carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) that aimed to understand how best to support MSFs organised for more sustainable land and resource use. The seven papers assess the potential of MSFs for more equitable decision-making in regard to land and resource use sustainability, and engage with scholarly debates over these forms of participation. The papers approach MSFs from different theoretical perspectives and analytical interests, yet all engage with issues that stem from the power inequalities that are inherent to these forums. The papers provide more evidence – and a warning – that to get closer to transformational change, we need MSFs that do more than simply bring people to the table