BirdLife International Partners use a variety of approaches to tackle policy issues, one of which is participation in national consultative forums: so called National Liaison Committees (NLCs) or National Liaison Frameworks (NLFs). The membership of these forums varies but usually includes government agencies, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, universities, donor agencies and local community conservation groups.

A review of this work (Mwangi 2007) documents the type of forums that BirdLife Partners engage with, the range of policy issues addressed, the successes as a result of this approach, the sustainability of the forums, and the limitations of the forums as an approach to influencing policy (Mwangi 2007). Data from 32 BirdLife partners (30% of the total) and six BirdLife Country Programmes indicates substantial involvement in NLFs, addressing issues relating to forests, wetlands, marine, protected areas, bird flu, multi-environment agreements (MEAs), hunting, wildlife trade, and environmental guidelines and protocols for sustainable use of natural resources.

This approach has resulted in some very significant policy outcomes. For example, Important Bird Areas (IBAs) have been designated as protected areas and threatening activities have been prevented as a result of participation in these forums. In addition, MEAs have been ratified and country positions for various Conferences of the Parties (e.g., CBD, Ramsar, CMS, UNFCCC) have been developed.