Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 2: Adaptive Collaborative Management: A Conceptual Model • 19
Learning among stakeholders
It appears obvious that managers must base their decisions on learning.
How is the ‘learning among stakeholders’ in ACM different from the normal
learning carried out by all managers? One difference is that ACM requires
that those involved seek and apply knowledge actively and deliberately,
rather than incidentally or passively. For example, forest managers can
identify uncertainties (such as nursery management techniques for bamboo)
while in the planning processes and then fill in those knowledge gaps in
the planning or implementation stage of their work (through analysis of
past and ongoing management experiences and outcomes). Thus learning
is an intentional outcome of the managing process, and it is fed back into
that process. In a traditional management process, learning tends to be
a by-product of the management activities, and it may or may not be
internalised, whereas in ACM, the learning process (and the uptake of the
learning) becomes part of the management routine—that is, it becomes
institutionalised.
In ACM, learning also means that forest managers actively seek to adjust
and improve their existing knowledge, incrementally sharpening and
enhancing their understanding of the forest system. One example of this
would be stakeholders building and applying an ongoing monitoring and
feedback process.
It also includes learning at a higher level rather than simply the learning
of facts, the kind of learning that enables stakeholders to reframe their
perspectives—or some part of their worldview. This level of learning can be
understood as ‘transformative learning’ (Van der Veen 2000; Loevinsohn
et al. 2000). One example would be the use of shared ‘learning questions’
by forest managers about their own governance processes, reflections and
ultimately shifts in ways of interacting.
Finally, as implied in the above paragraphs, one significant attribute of
learning in an ACM approach is that it is not only individual learning of
facts, but also (and especially) social learning—a process in which ‘multiple
stakeholders bring together their different knowledge, experiences,
perspectives, values and capacities for a process of communication and
critical reflection as a means of jointly understanding and addressing shared
challenges and potential options’ (McDougall et al. 2002:28). Although this
adds complexity to the process, it also potentially adds richness because of