Focus Group Reports: Introduction

Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Case of the North American Great Plains
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Focus Group Reports

Focus groups were an integral part of the program for this symposium. The goal of these groups was to identify key research and policy thrusts that could be implemented by existing or newly established committees or institutions in the region and the transmittal of these recommendations to the President's Council for Sustainable Development, the government of Canada's Sustainable Development Agenda, and other organizations and institutions for subsequent action.

Focus groups were organized around five themes: agricultural production; land and water resources; human and community resources; biological resources and biodiversity; and integrated resource management.

The planning committee's original plan was to have a focus group address climate as a theme. After considerable discussion, it was decided that the issue of climate transcends each of the themes above and, therefore, the issues associated with climate were best addressed in each group, rather than separately. Climate specialists were asked to distribute themselves among the various groups.

Each focus group was asked to address the following questions:

What are the principal stressors related to your group's topic affecting the North American Great Plains? Economic, policy, environmental, and social/cultural stressors should be considered. These stressors should be considered on various scales ranging from local to global.
What are examples of successes (e.g., best practices, tools)? How do you know they work? Where are the gaps?
Identify specific actions or programs that would lead to a more sustainable future for the region. Be specific by addressing the following questions: What can be done? How can it be done? Who will implement it? What can WE do?

One full day of the three-day symposium was devoted to a discussion of these questions by the focus groups. Participants were allowed to select the focus group they preferred to attend. Although each focus group was asked to respond to the same questions, each approached this assignment in a unique manner. A summary of each focus group's discussions follows. These discussions are further distilled in the symposium summary included at the beginning of this report.