Although the Australian forest plantation industry acknowledges that there is a role for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in forest management, there is confusion as to what this constitutes in practice. This paper describes the conflicts between internal and external stakeholder views on CSR in plantation forestry. We conducted in-depth interviews with key informants across three plantation management regions in Australia: Tasmania, the Green Triangle and south-west Western Australia. We interviewed a range of stakeholders including forest company employees, local councils, Indigenous representatives, and environmental non-government organisations. CSR-related initiatives that stakeholders believed were important for plantation management included the need for community engagement, accountability towards stakeholders, and contribution to community development and well-being. Although there was wide support for these initiatives, some stakeholders were not satisfied that forest companies were actively implementing them. Due to the perception that forest companies are not committed to CSR initiatives such as community engagement, some stakeholder expectations are not being satisfied.
History
Publication title
Journal of Environmental Management
Volume
113
Pagination
390-398
ISSN
0301-4797
Department/School
School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences
Publisher
Academic Press
Place of publication
32 Jamestown Rd, Camden, London, NW1 7BY, England
Rights statement
Copyright 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Repository Status
Restricted
Socio-economic Objectives
Other environmental management not elsewhere classified