National Dialogue Platforms

One of TFD’s key impacts in its 20 years convening forest dialogues worldwide is to inspire others to take the lead and continue organizing and engaging in multi-stakeholder dialogue. In some locations TFD’s impact may take the form of seeding formative collaborations, for others it may result in setting a culture of social inclusion in decision making processes. Yet nowhere is this impact clearer than in the founding of national dialogue platforms to sustain multi-stakeholder dialogue between forest stakeholders, as we see today in Chile and Brazil.

National dialogue platforms in Chile and Brazil were founded in 2009 and 2005 respectively, inspired by the mission and approach of TFD. Since their founding, both platforms have advanced through a series of steps, starting with a group of stakeholders in a specific region, focused on a number of key issues. In the early stages, a key priority was building engagement of actors across stakeholder groups and establishing financial security for the sustainability of the platform. Over time the national platforms developed governance structures, expanded in regional focus, and identified new priority issues. Today both national platforms exist independently from the international TFD platform, yet each work closely with TFD to collaborate on shared initiatives, such as Tree Plantations in the Landscape and the Land Use Dialogues, and share dialogue learnings and best practices.

Brazil’s national platform, Dialogo Florestal or The Brazilian Forests Dialogue (BFD), provides an example of how a national platform can evolve over time through the development of a strong network of stakeholders to establish a culture of dialogue and an effective governance structure. BFD was founded in 2005 with a focus on the Atlantic Forest biome, one of the most biodiverse and threatened on our planet. Over time it has expanded in focus to regions of Pampa, Cerrado, Caatinga and Amazon biomes. Today, BFD’s governance structure includes a National Forum, a Coordination Council, an Executive Committee, and five Regional Forums. The Coordination Council is responsible for policies and strategies for operating and overseeing actions supported by the Executive Secretary – operating similarly to TFD’s Steering Committee. The Executive Committee includes the executive secretary of each Regional Forum, the national executive secretary and representative of the Coordination Council.

The Chilean National Dialogue Platform, Dialogo Forestal Nacional (DFN), provides an example of how a national platform can respond over time to incorporate the most pressing issues of the nation’s forests. Originally founded with priorities to re-envision the forestry model in the country and address relationships and impacts of the plantation sector, today DFN has a strong focus on restoration and addressing the impacts of fires across the country.

For further information on National Dialogue Platforms see the Brazilian Forests Dialogue and Chilean Forests Dialogue pages below. For another example of TFD’s impact of continued dialogue across stakeholders, read about the experience in Komi, Russia following a field dialogue on Forests and Poverty Reduction in 2008.

If you, your organization, or stakeholders in your region are interested in creating a national dialogue platform, contact us at info@theforestsdialogue.org to see how to get started.