Tourism professionals, particularly investors, governed by the regulations laid down by the public authorities, should carry out studies of the impact of their development projects on the environment and natural surroundings; they should also deliver, with the greatest transparency and objectivity, information on their future programmes and their foreseeable repercussions and foster dialogue on their contents with the populations concerned; <Source>
Does foster mean encourage here? Does it simply mean they should have dialogue about the aims and details of their plans with the populations concerned?
Best Answer
I could see there being a little confusion when reading that sentence as to whether 'foster' was being used as a verb or an adjective. Are they fostering dialogue, or delivering "foster dialogue"?
It's being used as a verb, and means pretty much what you guessed.
See verb definition #2 at Wiktionary:
So, by fostering dialogue, they would be encouraging others to talk about the contents of their development projects. That seems like a strange way to phrase things. I would have used 'impact' rather than 'content'.