Background

Throughout the world, resolving conflicts among competing stakeholders over the use of natural resources has become a primary challenge facing sustainable development. The B.C. experience based on collaborative planning in the preparation of all LRMPs for crown-owned lands has become a focus of world-wide attention. Collaborative planning engages stakeholders in the preparation of plans through a process of interest-based negotiations. The collaborative planning concept is also known as “shared decision-making” (SDM) or “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR).

Research Objectives

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the collaborative planning process for preparing and implementing strategic land use plans in B.C. The specific research objectives are to:

• Evaluate collaborative planning process
  
• Evaluate implementation/monitoring process
  
• Incorporate findings into theory and practice of collaborative planning.
  

The research consists of several elements. The first stage of the project is to evaluate the process for preparing land use plans. This stage includes documenting provincial planning process characteristics, evaluating strengths and weaknesses, and identifying potential ways to improve the planning process. The second stage of the research project involves documenting the implementation process, measuring implementation success, and identifying contributing factors to successful implementation. These latter results will be used to develop guidelines for an effective implementation process and contribute to plan-implementation theory.

Funding

Research funds for this project come from several sources. Forest Renewal B.C. approved a three-year grant to be completed in March 2004. The B.C. Ministry of Forests has since assumed responsibility for this grant. Additional research funds from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Simon Fraser University have augmented provincial funds.