Decision-making in Local Forest Management: Pluralism Equity and Consensus

This paper first addresses property regimes and multiple interests and attempts to demonstrate that multiple interests in forest management are not the exception but the rule. It then discusses simple decision-making criteria for forest management and identifies two major (but not necessarily exclusive) scenarios of decision-making-hierarchical and consensual. These are summarised briefly and some of the problem are discussed, including the informal tools used by those excluded from these decision-making methods. The consensual approach has recently been subject to analysis that throws doubt on the practicality and usefulness of consensus and of techniques, particularly participatory ones, which promote it. The paper suggests that pluralistic understandings and approaches may be able to provide a set of characteristics or criteria upon which other approaches might be evaluated, built or refined. Finally, the paper addresses some of the critiques that have been focused on the use of pluralism, especially concerns about equity.