Social learning from public engagement: dreaming the impossible?

Learning that transcends participation processes is critical if public engagement is to translate into a legacy of enhanced environmental citizenship. However, a lack of empirical evidence has limited discussion to date to largely ‘aspirational’ claims. This paper offers the first rigorous examination of whether public participation does generate beyond-process social learning. Initially we review the literature on public participation and environmental citizenship to identify the key dimensions of social learning. We then re-visit a well-worked case study of an innovative public engagement process on the Hampshire waste strategy from the 1990s. Approximately one third of the original participants have been interviewed to identify whether and how the experience had a lasting effect on them. Key methodological difficulties are discussed, not least the analytical difficulties of attributing learning to a process that happened ten years previously. However, we argue that there is evidence that both instrumental and communicative learning have taken place, and conclude by identifying key areas that require further research.     

论公众参与的环境伦理观

公众参与(Public Participation)是环境影响评价(EIA)和战略影响评价(SEA)的重要内容,也是环境保护事业发展的基础.影响公众参与的因素有环境法律、环境经济、环境文化和环境伦理四个方面,其中环境伦理在公众参与和环境行为方面发挥巨大的作用.本文从伦理学角度论述了人类环境伦理观的形成,环境伦理对公众参与环境保护的影响以及可持续发展的环境道德原则.     

Critical review of Integrated Water Resources Management: Moving beyond polarised discourse

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) emerged as a popular concept in the water sector in the 20th century. From a highly techno-centric approach in the past, it has taken a new turn embracing Habermasian communicative rationality as a place-based nexus for multiple actors to consensually and communicatively integrate decisions in a hydrological unit. The 'how to integrate' approach had remarkable appeal worldwide in promoting authentic participation of all stakeholders. However, critics argue that the domain of water resource management is a political process of contestation and negotiation; the emphasis is on complexities, contextuality, power dynamics and the importance of analysing real world situations. They demonstrate 'how integration cannot be achieved' given the power dynamics in social interactions. These apparently contradictory discourses draw on different theoretical paradigms and polarise the discourse on IWRM, without offering constructive alternatives. To this end, this paper offers an option to complement this polarised discourse by examining 'how integration actually does take place' in a strategic context thereby facilitating consensual decisions to integrate water management for a sustainable future.     

Habermas and Nature: The Theory of Communicative Action for Studying Environmental Policy

Habermas's theory of communicative action is used in this paper to develop a cultural model for empirical studies of environmental policy processes. The model consists of three cultural ideal types: anthropocentric material; anthropocentric immaterial; and ecocentric immaterial. Obstacles to social learning and public participation, such as forms and styles of reasoning and the exclusion of citizens, are brought into focus. Finally, the model functions as a criticism of a pure liberal view of environmental problems.     

The Political Import of Intrinsic Objections to Genetically Engineered Food

Many people object to genetically engineerehd (GE) food because they believe that it is unnatural or that its creation amounts to playing God. These objections are often referred to as intrinsic objections, and they have been widely criticized in the agricultural bioethics literature as being unsound, incompatible with modern science, religious, inchoate, and based on emotion instead of reason. Many of their critics also argue that even if these objections did have some merit as ethicalobjections, their quasi-religious nature means that they are entirely irrelevant when interpreted aspolitical objections regarding what public policy ought to be. In this paper, we argue that this widespread view is false. Intrinsic objections have much more political import than has previously been recognized, and indeed the requirements of political liberalism and its associated idea of liberal neutrality, once properly understood, protect intrinsic objections from many of the most common objections. That is, policy-makers may not legitimately base public policy on grounds that are inconsistent with intrinsic objections, even when they believe those objections to be flawed in the ways mentioned above. This means that in the context of a political debate about GE food, the discussion should not center on the substantive merits of the intrinsic objections themselves but rather on the appropriate political norms for achieving democratically legitimate policy on issues that touch people’s deepest religious and moral beliefs.     

A clash of cultures (and lawyers): Anglo Platinum and mine-affected communities in Limpopo Province,South Africa

The human rights related controversies surrounding Anglo Platinum's Mogalakwena mine in South Africa's Limpopo Province hit the world stage in 2008, attracting public scrutiny and instigating much debate in the realm of international business and human rights discussions. We provide an in-depth analysis of the controversies at Mogalakwena, and Anglo Platinum's responses. This case study contributes to ongoing debates on mining company-community relations in the context of the emerging business and human rights agenda, specifically with respect to the notion of human rights ‘due diligence’. We argue that the Mogalakwena case study illustrates the risks of companies adhering to and emphasizing the technical and logistical facets of due diligence, without sufficient attention to the relational, communicative and emergent aspects, which are closely tied to corporate culture. We highlight the complexities of company-community relationships, with particular reference to the issues of legitimate community representation and participatory decision-making, and discuss the role that organizational culture plays in exacerbating or mitigating corporate-community conflict. The case study demonstrates how legal challenges often exacerbate rather than resolve the conflicts that arise due to a clash between corporate and community cultures. We suggest the need for corporate leaders to become more conscious of this cultural dimension of effective social management, particularly when interacting with communities whose cultures are markedly different from those of business corporations.     

Managing the intractable: communicative structures for management of hexachlorobenzene and other scheduled wastes

This paper explores issues of governance and decision-making structures associated with the problem of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste at Botany in New South Wales. From a government perspective, the problem is ‘downstream’ of a well-known national controversy over whether Australia should have a high-temperature incinerator (HTI) to ‘dispose’ of such scheduled wastes. The 1992 decision not to proceed with HTI followed an extensive process of public consultation, which, against the expectations of industry and government, saw the emergence of Australia-wide community opposition. Alternative national management plans were formulated for the treatment of several types of organochlorine waste, with the scheme of these plans first approved in 1993 by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). The HCB Management Plan is one of three such plans (the others being for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides). With this, ANZECC established the Scheduled Waste Management Group comprising government officials, and the National Advisory Body (NAB) made up of stakeholders. Officially the NAB had oversight of the HCB problem until 2002 when it was disbanded. As a result of the HTI experience, new community consultation protocols were introduced in association with the alternative management plans. For HCBs, which are confined almost entirely to Orica's Botany site in southeastern Sydney, this led to the establishment of the Community Participation and Review Committee (CPRC), a representative body with review and advisory functions. This paper draws conclusions from this history about government processes of decision making, the role of individual and institutional actors, the central importance of trust, and the democratisation of risk management. Using concepts delineated by McDonell [1991. Toxic waste management in Australia: why did policy reform fail? Environment 33(6), 11–13, 33–39; 1997. Scientific and everyday knowledge: trust and the politics of environmental initiatives. Social Studies of Science 27, 819–863.] we identify swings towards, then away from institutionalised trust. Across two decades, government and industry have placed faith in centrally controlled mechanisms for public participation, hoping to garner trust and legitimate privileged technological solutions. On the ‘backswings’, these processes have seen public trust dissipate in the face of government misunderstanding of the opportunities for effective bureaucratic interventions.     

Web-based GIS for collaborative planning and public participation: an application to the strategic planning of wind farm sites

Spatial planning typically involves multiple stakeholders. To any specific planning problem, stakeholders often bring different levels of knowledge about the components of the problem and make assumptions, reflecting their individual experiences, that yield conflicting views about desirable planning outcomes. Consequently, stakeholders need to learn about the likely outcomes that result from their stated preferences; this learning can be supported through enhanced access to information, increased public participation in spatial decision-making and support for distributed collaboration amongst planners, stakeholders and the public. This paper presents a conceptual system framework for web-based GIS that supports public participation in collaborative planning. The framework combines an information area, a Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS) and an argumentation map to support distributed and asynchronous collaboration in spatial planning. After analysing the novel aspects of this framework, the paper describes its implementation, as a proof of concept, in a system for Web-based Participatory Wind Energy Planning (WePWEP). Details are provided on the specific implementation of each of WePWEP's four tiers, including technical and structural aspects. Throughout the paper, particular emphasis is placed on the need to support user learning throughout the planning process.     

Reducing public participation in a formal procedure: Limits of public meetings concerning the installation of the dams of the Madeira River (Brazilian Amazon)

This article examines and discusses problems faced by proposals to increase participation by members of the public in the public debate process related to environmental policies. The analysis is based on an examination of the processes followed to develop several public meetings, which were ostensibly aimed at democratizing the process of implementing hydroelectric installations in the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon at the beginning of the twenty‐first century. The analysis concluded that the invitation to the public to participate in discussions regarding the construction of the dams was a mere formality. Not only did members of the public not have access to information that could have helped them understand the real social and environmental impacts of this large‐scale economic development project, but the public was restricted from interfering in its construction. As a consequence, the region is today dealing with a number of difficulties which could have been avoided if the voice of the community had been heard in the public meetings.     

Food Law,Ethics, and Food Safety Regulation: Roles,Justifications, and Expected Limits

Recent food emergencies throughout the world have raised some serious ethical and legal concerns for nations and health organizations. While the legal regulations addressing food risks and foodborne illnesses are considerably varied and variously effective, less is known about the ethical treatment of the subject. The purpose of this article is to discuss the roles, justifications, and limits of ethics of food safety as part of public health ethics and to argue for the development of this timely and emergent field of ethics. The article is divided into three parts. After a short introduction on public health ethics, all levels of food safety processes are described and the role that ethics play in each of these levels is then analyzed. In the second part, different models describing the function of food law are examined. The relationship between these models and the role of ethics of food safety is assessed and discussed in the final part, leading to some relevant comments on the limits of the role and effect of ethics of food safety.     

Using participation to create resilience: how to involve citizens in designing a hospital system?

Decisions on health-related risks affect many people personally. The public debate on hospital planning is therefore especially emotional and conflict-ridden. Due to the aging population and the high costs of constantly improving medical care, the question arises in many German rural areas as to which hospitals can be kept and developed further and which ones should be closed. The new approach of the present state government of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart and the State Health Office Baden-Württemberg, is to apply citizen participation to prepare this type of decision. The design of this type of public participation process is based on the criteria of mediation (including open decision-making scope, opportunity for discussion in the protected context of the working group, as well as disclosure of all information and transparency of the results toward the public). This approach has proven useful for conducting dialogs in areas with potential conflict. Based on the experiences from this hospital participation process, further recommendations for an effective, efficient and fair participation processes could be derived. The case demonstrates that adequate and structured involvement processes are capable of delivering sustainably acceptable results even in difficult decision-making processes.     

For the sake of the lake: multi-signification and improvisation in the practices of two lake restoration projects in Finland

In many countries over the last decades, state initiatives have emerged to promote and support public participation in policy-making. Despite the emphasis on participation and deliberation, there are groups that remain outside the participatory proceedings. We follow through two case studies from Finland on how active citizen groups became excluded in the policy processes but decided to act nevertheless. Conceptually, the article tells two stories about multi-signification and improvisation in nature conservation processes from the citizen participation point of view. Using practice-oriented policy analysis, we explore the actors' conflicting interpretations of acting for “the sake of the lake”. We argue that in these kinds of complex policy processes, improvisation should be given more space.     

Risk discourses and governance of high-level radioactive waste storage in Taiwan

Policy scholars have indicated that the quality of the solution to a perceived social problem depends on the adequacy of its framing. This paper examines how policy stakeholders and local residents frame the issue of the radioactive waste storage facility in Taiwan, the limits of institutional mechanisms in decision-making processes, and the implications of the deliberative forums undertaken by the national Stop Nukes Now organisation. The controversy illustrates the problems of a knowledge gap and the top-down procedures as well as the challenges that Taiwan faces in becoming a nuclear-free country. This case demonstrates civic society organisations’ efforts to challenge the ‘social–technical divide’ and technical experts’ prior definition of the ‘problems’ and selection of a ‘solution’. Deliberative forums enable the participation of affected communities to shape public discourses, which helps to strengthen public communication, improves citizen consciousness of nuclear waste issues, and attempts to link wider communities and public interests.     

(Not) talking about justice: justice self-recognition and the integration of energy and environmental-social justice into renewable energy siting

Renewable energy often provokes heated debate on climate change, energy security and the local impacts of developments. However, how far such discussions involve thorough and inclusive debate on the energy and environmental-social justice issues associated with renewable energy siting remains ambiguous, particularly where government agendas prioritise renewable energy and planning systems offer limited opportunities for public debate on value-based arguments for and against renewable energy developments. Using the concept of justice self-recognition, we argue for greater attention to public discussion of the justice dimensions of renewable energy to assist in developing mechanisms to integrate distributive and procedural fairness principles into renewable energy decision-making. To explore how justice is currently invoked in such contexts, we examine recent U.K. policies for renewable energy and public submissions to applications for small-scale wind energy projects in Cornwall, U.K. The analysis of public comments revealed that justice concerns were rarely discussed explicitly. Comments instead did not raise concerns as justice issues or focused implicitly on distributive justice, stressing local aesthetic, community and economic impacts, clean energy and climate change. However, the findings indicated limited discussion of procedural or participatory justice, an absence that hampers the establishment of coherent procedures for deciding acceptable impacts, information standards, public participation and arbitrating disputes. We conclude by suggesting procedural reforms to policy and planning to enable greater public expression of justice concerns and debate on how to negotiate tensions between energy and environmental-social justice in renewable energy siting decisions.     

Developing a framework for integrating local and scientific knowledge in internationally funded environment management projects: case studies from Kien Giang Province,Vietnam

Local and scientific knowledge, when adequately and properly integrated, produces enormous benefits for natural resource management in comparison to a single knowledge system being used. Adequate and proper integration has major constraints that include ineffective use of the integrated knowledge, thoroughly inclusive processes, and true public participation. A six-stage framework is developed using the results and conclusions of two case studies regarding sustainable management of eroding mangrove-dominated muddy coasts in Vam Ray, Hon Dat district, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. The framework does not stop with the creation of integrated knowledge, but should undergo a longer process. The new knowledge developed in this framework is the understanding gained and lessons learnt during the testing of products of multiple knowledge systems in a local context rather than products of integrated knowledge systems themselves. The Vam Ray framework promotes a high level of participation, effective use of products of multiple knowledge systems, maximum integration of local and scientific knowledge, local ownership, and sustainability. Therefore, the Vam Ray framework adds a new dimension to the literature in relation to integration of local and scientific knowledge in natural resource management.     

From Experiential Knowledge to Public Participation: Social Learning at the Community Fisheries Action Roundtable

Extensive research demonstrates that public participation in environmental decision making can increase understanding of diverse worldviews and knowledge bases, public faith in governance institutions, and compliance with resulting rules. Concerns linger around costs, possibilities of polarization and decreased legitimacy in cases of poorly executed processes, and the ability of newly empowered groups to gain political leverage over others. If participants in public processes can bracket their personal experience to better assess other viewpoints, establishing mutual respect and understanding through deliberative exchange, they increase the likelihood of maximizing participatory benefits and minimizing risks. Such reflexivity indicates double-loop social learning, change undertaken through collective discussion and interaction. A capacity-building workshop program aims to foster such learning within the Maine fishing industry. Case material draws primarily on participant observation and interview data, using a grounded theory approach to qualitative analysis. Evidence indicates that in social contexts removed from the norms of daily life and the frustrations of past fishery management confrontations, harvesters acquire knowledge and skills that facilitate more strategic and productive behavior in formal and informal marine resource decision venues. Suspensions of longstanding spatio-temporal assumptions around the prosecution and management of fisheries comprise key learning moments, and yield corresponding changes in industry attitudes and actions. With heightened appreciation for a diversity of experiences and management priorities, harvesters can better mobilize a broad spectrum of local knowledge to develop viable regulatory proposals and collaborative decision processes.     

Private Participation Going Public? Interpreting the Nexus Between Design,Frames, Roles,and Context of the Fracking ‘InfoDialog’ in Germany

At an early stage of the rising fracking controversy in Germany, ExxonMobil initiated a rather large and costly company dialogue to defuse public concerns over fracking. To shed light on the public implications of private participation, this study analyses how this so-called InfoDialog attempted to reach this goal, and what the consequences were. For this purpose, an interpretive analytical perspective that employs concepts of conflict and participation analysis is adopted. Following this perspective, several design features of the InfoDialog and their implications for the framing of the fracking issue are reconstructed. This provides the ground for analysing the roles that the InfoDialog could play in coping with the fracking controversy. Finally, the dialogue's embeddedness in the context of the emerging fracking debate in Germany is examined. The analysis suggests that the InfoDialog could not defuse the public controversy over fracking by scientization. However, as a forerunner in the emerging politics of expertise, it has supported a particular framing of the public controversy. These insights provoke further critical questions about the implications of privately organized participation arrangements regarding public controversies.     

Implementing Participatory Decision Making in Forest Planning

Forest policy decisions are often a source of debate, conflict, and tension in many countries. The debate over forest land-use decisions often hinges on disagreements about societal values related to forest resource use. Disagreements on social value positions are fought out repeatedly at local, regional, national, and international levels at an enormous social cost. Forest policy problems have some inherent characteristics that make them more difficult to deal with. On the one hand, forest policy decisions involve uncertainty, long time scales, and complex natural systems and processes. On the other hand, such decisions encompass social, political, and cultural systems that are evolving in response to forces such as globalization. Until recently, forest policy was heavily influenced by the scientific community and various economic models of optimal resource use. However, growing environmental awareness and acceptance of participatory democracy models in policy formulation have forced the public authorities to introduce new participatory mechanisms to manage forest resources. Most often, the efforts to include the public in policy formulation can be described using the lower rungs of Arnstein’s public participation typology. This paper presents an approach that incorporates stakeholder preferences into forest land-use policy using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). An illustrative case of regional forest-policy formulation in Australia is used to demonstrate the approach. It is contended that applying the AHP in the policy process could considerably enhance the transparency of participatory process and public acceptance of policy decisions.     

An Empirical‐Theoretical Analysis Framework for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment

Public participation has been increasingly recognized as one of the most important aspects of environmental impact assessment. However, the definition of adequate evaluative criteria for public participation, with a strong theoretical backing, the functionality of empirical best practice and the consideration of the country-specific context, has remained elusive. The evaluative framework developed here is an attempt to fill this gap. Best-practice public participation is defined as consisting of two components: (1) legal provisions; and (2) actors' attitudes and capacities (towards participation). The theoretical model, defined on the basis of Webler's adaptation of Habermas's theory of communicative action, is then translated into evaluative criteria for bestpractice public participation.     

Wilderness politics: Public participation and values

This article deals with wilderness politics in relationship to values and public participation; these terms are defined for the purpose of the study. It is argued that the survival, quantity, and quality of wilderness everywhere will basically be determined by the political and governmental processes through values. Yet there is a strong tendency in these processes to avoid value exposure and emphasis.Much of governmental approach toward wilderness affairs hinges upon economic development, technoscientific facts, and short-term considerations, in contrast to the intangible noneconomic and long-term values of wilderness. By not articulating nd involving wilderness values more in public participation and the political processes, the public often misses opportunities for influencing far-reaching wilderness decisions. In short, wilderness values need to be more explicitly and implicitly stated and implemented politically.More study and emphasis need to be given to wilderness values per se. It is necessary to develop more innovative ways of educating the public on wilderness values in terms of their lives and of ensuring that their value inputs are effectively incorporated into public participation and political processes. The last section of this article is devoted to efforts by the author and others to identify and describe wilderness tropical forest values.