Understanding community engagement in plantation forest management: insights from practitioner and community narratives

Community engagement (CE) processes are an essential component of modern forest management practices. Required under law and in line with modern business paradigms, CE processes need to produce positive social as well as operational outcomes, a balance that is often complicated and idealistic. This paper identifies pathways to successful CE within operational plantation forestry management. Using narratives to explore the multiple experiences of those involved in engagement processes, the paper highlights the perspectives of both practitioners and other stakeholders. Analysing the multiple goals and interpretations of engagement encounters, approaches for improving CE practices used in plantation management and other settings are identified.