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Forest Futures - Workshops

The Forest Futures project hosted a series of regional and national workshops to provide input into the scenario development and achieve the following general aims: (a) to discuss a range of driving forces and how they influence Canada’s forests and forest sector; (b) to examine four scenarios depicting the evolution of our forests and forest sector from the present to 2050; (c) to discuss the potential realism of the scenarios in local and regional contexts; and (d) to examine policy implications of the scenarios at the local and regional level.


Attendees

The Project provided workshop facilitation by one or more members of the Core Team (the eight research-area leaders of the SFM Network) as well as record-keeping services. Considering workshop participants, we sought local/regional stakeholders who are keen and able to discuss alternative futures for the forests and forest sector in the vicinity of the workshop venue. The smallest number of participants desired was ca. 15-20, and the largest ca. 40-50 people. We extended an open invitation for participation in the workshop, rather than specific invitation-only.


Preparing for the workshop

The Forest Futures Project has two sets of documents to prime workshop discussions: (a) a set of driver papers which show how the drivers cause change in the forests and forest sector, and how such drivers might play out to the year 2050; and (b) the four scenarios, each crafted to tell a unique national-level story of forest and forest-sector evolution.

To help prepare for the workshop, we suggested to read Scenario Analysis: a Brief Introduction...What/Why/How as well as the four Scenarios (A/B/C/D). Once the participants have read the scenarios, they were encouraged to consider the regional differences and implications that exist within each scenario. The Driver Papers provided additional detail to support the scenarios.


Approach and Agenda

We used the morning (9:00-10:00 a.m.) in plenary session to introduce the project and the scenario approach to policy analysis, and review the driver papers and the scenarios. Then, working groups formed to discuss local/regional realism of the scenarios and their policy implications (10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.). In the final moments of the meeting (2:00-3:30 p.m.), the working groups convened in plenary to summarize the main points of their discussions and advise the project on how to improve the scenarios for further policy analysis.


The Future

Peter Duinker will present preliminary findings from the project at the SFM Network 2009 Conference.


Past workshops