Smallholders and communities around the world face similar issues in preserving their forests and implementing responsible forestry practices; ensuring their livelihoods is often at the cost of their forests.
FSC Chile is implementing a new approach – the collective impact methodology. This new approach aims to empower smallholder, Indigenous Peoples and local communities in gaining FSC certification and ideally make a living from responsible forestry.
The new methodology requires collaboration between stakeholders based on the following five conditions:
- a common agenda
- a shared measurement system
- mutually reinforcing activities
- continuous communication
- a backbone organization
Despite the project being in its early stages, some initial key learnings are as follows:
- Local intervention techniques work best with bottom-up efforts
- True change is a process, not a project
- National FSC standards must include indicators more relevant to Chilean smallholders
- Engagement can help alleviate pre-existing biases – smallholders and local communities have now begun to get involved in the collective impact project.
FSC is proud of the work done so far with the collective impact methodology and looks forward to further exploring innovative approaches that can be applied globally.