EXPLORING INTERACTIONS AMONG LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE DELIVERY OF URBAN FOREST MANAGEMENT ACROSS CANADA

Abstract

Forests, trees, and the associated vegetation in cities and towns provide a myriad of benefits and services to growing populations of urban dwellers. The procurement and distribution of urban forest benefits is dependent on forest management and the coordination of actors involved in those processes. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in particular are helpful in the delivery of urban forest goals because of their ability to supplement government resources and capacity or advise on management practices. Despite their contributions in urban forest management, to date they have received limited scholarly attention. To address the gap in existing literature, this research sought to develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of urban forest NGOs and the many ways in which these groups may interact with their respective local governments. The objectives of the research are twofold. Firstly, it serves to determine the structure of urban forest NGO and local government collaborations. The second objective is to elucidate practitioners’ perspectives towards these collaborations. We collected data using semi-structured interviews with three groups: leaders of NGOs, municipal government officials in urban forest, parks, or public works departments, and urban-forest experts who have observed how NGOs and governments interact. The participants represent 32 individuals in nine Canadian cities. Our results demonstrate that while challenges and vulnerabilities existed, participants held positive associations concerning their local NGO-municipal government collaborations. Local governments should not be hesitant to engage NGOs in their management. While there is a spectrum of NGO-government collaborative arrangements with diversity in formality, power, proximity, and funding, no one structure will yield the most streamlined services. This research proposes recommendations for practitioners embarking on cross-sector collaborations. Despite their positive attributions, forest decision-makers should be mindful of potential vulnerabilities in their collaborative operations and benchmark their experiences against other regional and national examples of successful NGO-government collaborations.