ABOUT NEW FOREST OUTLOOK
Founded in January 2010, New Forest Outlook Ltd. works with Indigenous and rural communities, NGOs, industry, and government, developing lasting relationships, and helping solve complex forest and land stewardship challenges. New Forest takes a collaborative approach, co-developing solutions based on local values, needs, interdisciplinary science and traditional knowledge, and has the capacity to involve talented associates in Canada and beyond.
New Forest Outlook was founded by Rob Friberg, PhD, RPF, following a career as a field forester in western Canada and 3 years volunteering with multistakeholder forest and rural livelihoods initiatives in South America. Since 2015 Rob has also been teaching part time at the University of British Columbia and Okanagan College, including courses on environmental science and sustainability, response environmental hazards and climate change, forest management, and human geography.
IMPACT AREAS
New Forest Outlook Ltd. has successfully completed multiple projects in western Canada, South America and the Caribbean, and Central Africa in three main practice areas.
Locally driven forest & land planning and related indicators, special projects, forest carbon including REDD+.
Participatory development of projects, programs, policies; effectiveness indicators, cumulative effects.
Policy analysis (barriers, collaborative governance); focus groups, workshops, stakeholder engagement.
MISSION AND OPERATING AREAS
New Forest Outlook's purpose is to support the success of innovative forest and land stewardship initiatives, effective response to climate change, and broader participation in the benefits from and governance of forest land. This includes a key focus on traditional Indigenous values, rights, knowledge, and culturally based principles for forest and land management.
To date New Forest Outlook has supported projects mainly in Canada, South America, the Caribbean, and Central Africa. We welcome opportunities to be involved with values-driven projects in other regions as well.
Working alongside a Cree Nation in Canada's boreal forest region New Forest Outlook through workshops, focus groups, and co-analysis of results helped develop a causal model of impacts to cultural values from the cumulative impacts of logging and fossil fuel extraction on the landscape. The resulting indicators will be used in land stewardship planning, multistakeholder collaboration, environmental assessment, and the protection & recovery of traditional practice and well-being.
This work was conducted in the Lesser Slave Lake region, Alberta, Canada
Since 2010 New Forest Outlook has been a thought partner, mentor, advisor, and technical contributor to forest stewardship initiatives including carbon funded REDD+, protection of cultural values, livelihoods, and community well-being. This includes participatory land use planning, focal issue analysis, theory of change modeling, social & biodiversity indicators, and carbon estimates.
Organizations supported include Deutsche Forstservice GmbH, the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, Zamba Consulting, and a USAID sponsored program, for projects in South America and Central Africa.
New Forest Outlook was subcontracted to provide due diligence assessment and assurance on forest carbon methodologies and carbon offset quantification for the Haida Gwaii Forest Carbon Project, enabling a revenue stream for ecosystem-based management founded on First Nation cultural values.
Additional contributions to carbon market-funded forest conservation projects on the BC coast involve forest inventory, baseline analysis, and collaboration with the province and local communities to support creation of two new parks on Quadra and Denman Islands.
Through Foreign Affairs Canada and working with the Cuban Forests Ministry New Forest Outlook conducted site visits, interviewed stakeholders, and developed recommendations for a multi-stakeholder strategic planning process for sustainable forest management, rural livelihoods, and community well-being.
Earlier work by New Forest Outlook’s founder was undertaken as a volunteer with CUSO International for projects with similar goals in central Chile and the Chilean Andes region.
Past and current clients in this theme include Natural Resources Canada (environmental policy scan; carbon market discussion paper), and fRI Research (literature review and sustainable forestry indicator development).
The applied PhD research for New Forest Outlooks founder Rob Friberg involved engagement with community and Indigenous leaders, provincial and federal government, NGOs, and the private sector on collaborative governance and collective response to climate and environmental change, including wildfire and a regional forest insect outbreak. Related publications include contributions to the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, and journal articles on strategic environmental assessment.
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