Using citizen science in environmental justice: participation and decision-making in a Southern California waste facility siting conflict

Uses of science by environmental justice (EJ) activists reflect struggles to challenge professional scientific expertise, achieve fair outcomes, and effectively participate in decision-making processes. This qualitative research analyses the relationship between citizen science and EJ in a new waste facility siting conflict in urban Los Angeles, namely connections between citizen science and four dimensions of EJ: fair distribution, respect and recognition, participation in decision-making, and community capabilities. Citizen science is one tactic in EJ, yet little research investigates its role in a new facility siting conflict, particularly in relation to multi-faceted EJ goals. The research reveals opportunities for individual empowerment and community capacity building using citizen science, and a small measure of improved respect and recognition for participants who brought their own knowledge, research, and voices to the table. At the same time, the work identifies limitations on citizen science to improve local participatory procedures and decision-making, which also constricted the achievement of outcomes most desired by the EJ group: to prevent approval and construction of the new waste facility. This paper argues that uses of citizen science contributed to partial achievement of EJ goals, while hindered by governance processes that call for public participation yet shield decision-makers from substantive engagement with the volume or content of that participation.     

Drivers of local people’s participation in sustainable natural resource management: a case study in central Iran

The driving forces behind natural resource management (NRM) vary among countries. Most NRM programmes focus on biophysical drivers such as soil, water and vegetation, with little attention directed towards the nuanced sociocultural and religious drivers of sustainable natural resource management (SNRM) practices. This paper explores those understudied drivers that influence local people’s participation (LPP) in SNRM in Isfahan, Iran. Using a multi-stage stratified sampling method, we selected 200 natural resource experts and natural resource users to complete a questionnaire about their perceptions of SNRM. Results reveal that sociocultural and religious beliefs are the major drivers of SNRM. The results also indicate that subsidiary drivers include: a sense of responsibility towards SNRM; the conviction that natural resources belong to God and should therefore be preserved; participation to preserve natural resources because of training courses and media influence; a long-established custom of preserving natural resources; and the specific impact of environmental television programmes. Demographic analysis finds a significant relationship between educational level and LPP in SNRM. This study’s results therefore suggest that natural resource managers would benefit from a deeper understanding of the local sociocultural and religious contexts that motivate people to participate in SNRM.     

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.     

Community partnered projects: a case study of a collaborative effort to improve sanitation in a marginalized community in northwest Mexico

There is a growing recognition in developing countries that community participation in water and sanitation projects is a necessary strategy in sustainable development. The main advantage of following such an approach is that, if participation can encourage a sense of ownership of the projects, the benefits of the project are more likely to extend over the long term. The case study at hand focuses on the challenges faced in implementing a wastewater treatment system to solve an environmental and public health problem in a rural community, Rosario de Tesopaco, in northwest Mexico. Until recently, the community has been unable to implement an effective plan to treat the wastewater generated in the community. The problems faced by the community can be attributed to the political arrangement of water and sanitation decentralization in Mexico that occurred in the mid 1980’s, whereby communities were required to meet wastewater treatment standards, but were not given the technical and political guidance needed to achieve this goal. However, in this instance, cooperation between the authorities in Rosario de Tesopaco, the federal agency for social development, and an academic institution has led to the successful design and approval of a wastewater treatment project. This achievement can be attributed to the use of an effective collaborative strategy, tailoring the project to the needs and capacity of the local community, positioning the community as the leaders and owners of the project. A model for following this strategy for developing rural sanitation projects in Mexico is proposed. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Modeling community participation and other factors affecting biodiversity protection projects in China

A statistical model of community participation and investment in biodiversity protection projects was developed in order to understand patterns in the effectiveness of conservation actions in forest-edge communities in Gansu, China. Extensive questionnaires were used to validate the model. The effectiveness of biodiversity programs is strongly and positively influenced by the level of public participation and investment. Higher education improves the use of resources associated with conservation, such as reduced hunting, reduced use of forest products, and the use of fuels other than wood. Nevertheless, it will be important to balance the implementation of conservation programs with the rights of communities to earn or gather a livelihood. The CBI model will benefit from further development, but proves to be a valuable tool for evaluating the design and effectiveness of biodiversity protection programs. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Information, power and environmental justice in Botany: the role of community information systems

In the environmental conflict that surrounds the sighting of hazardous waste facilities there is usually a volatile mix of disparities in power, expertise and information access as well as differing views on risk, which are all played out amidst commercial arrangements and environmental justice concerns. In recent times, the volatility of this mix has been further compounded by the growing climate of public concern and distrust surrounding scientific developments and technology. While there is no 'quick fix' to the complex conflict that this entails, community information systems (CISs) based on participatory models can help address the outstanding issues of capacity, information access, power inequities and environmental justice. CISs are an effective response to the five crucial elements of a toxic dispute, that is, the dialogue, capacity building, information access, evaluation of hazards and risk, and expertise. This paper will review the role of community accessible information systems in the dispute in Botany over the management and destruction of Orica Australia's stockpile of the persistent organic pollutant, hexachlorobenzene (HCB). It will focus on the role of CIS in responding to the challenges for expert information delivery, and in addressing the disparity of informational power within the toxic dispute.     

政府环境规制下的企业治理动机与公众参与外部性研究

本文构建了多主体参与环境治理的动态一般均衡模型,进行了政府环境规制下的企业内生治理动机研究与公众参与外部性的分析,模拟结果显示,企业内生治理动机、社会福利等不同目标下对应的最优环境税率存在明显差异。随着政府环境税率的不断上升,企业环境技术研发投入会先上升后下降,当环境研发投入水平达到最大时,政府所征收的环境税完全激发了企业的内生治理动机。在环境税率提高的初期,研发引致的环境技术进步使得企业的全要素生产率得以提高,经济产出不断增加,社会福利水平得到增进。当环境税率上升到一定数值之后,环境税带来的资源配置扭曲效应高于环境负外部性的改善效应,对于经济而言,环境税成为扭曲性税收,并会降低社会福利水平。因此,应在保证经济增长和社会福利增进的同时有效激励企业内在治理动机,将环境税率设定在适当水平。本文还模拟了政府与公众参与的组合对于社会福利的影响情况,与仅考虑政府环境规制政策的情形相对比,政府征收环境税和社会组织参与的共同作用可以使得社会福利提高,充分表明了公众参与环境治理存在着正外部性。环境社会组织在一定程度上可以降低政府信息不对称等因素,改善环境治理状况。环境组织的参与还能够使得环境税所带来的环境治理改善和生产效率提高的双重红利逐渐释放。因此,在发挥政府规制与市场调节功能的同时,充分发挥环境社会组织和公众在环境治理中的作用,是改善环境质量、提高公众福利的重要方式。     

河滩湿地资源保护与开发社区意愿调查——以黄河孟津湿地扣马段为例

河滩湿地是湿地资源的重要组成部分,了解社区居民对滩区湿地保护的认知及利用诉求,是探索兼顾社区利益的河滩湿地生态保护模式的基础。以黄河孟津湿地扣马段为例对滩区周边社区居民开展了意愿调查,结果表明:71.96%的被调查居民认识到湿地的重要性,但是严格划地保护、禁止开垦利用而伤害到其根本利益是无法接受的,这种矛盾正是目前自然保护区保护措施和效果无法得到保证的根本原因。90.53%的被调查居民认为保护区对当地社区的影响主要集中在土地减少和鸟类啄食造成作物减产,绝大多数居民认为政府理应给予补偿。对于湿地用途的期望,受访者意见非常分散。只要处理好保护区与社区居民的利益关系,多数居民是能够理解并参与湿地保护工作的。     

公众参与流域水污染控制的机制研究

近期中国流域管理的工作重点之一是水污染控制,公众参与是流域水环境管理的重要组成部分。通过公众参与可以提升公众环境意识、动员多方力量来调和多重利益团体的矛盾、监督企业环境行为、克服政府单方决策的缺陷。但目前中国公众参与流域水污染控制状况并不十分理想,未能有效发挥上述公众参与的优势,极需建立合理的公众参与流域水污染控制机制。基于政府、公众、企业之间的互约‘关系,提出了成立流域水污染控制协调小组,组织政府、企业、公众三方力量开展协商、引导支持公众参与流域水环境管理,逐步完善协调、监督、管理、激励的流域水污染控制的互约机制,动员全社会力量建立流域水环境管理的优化体制。     

“一带一路”视域下环境保护问题的战略定位与治理体系

环境保护是"一带一路"建设的重要议题,它所面临的挑战更多源于沿线国家和地区经济发展任务繁重与生态环境先天脆弱之间的矛盾。仅仅依靠单个政府部门或某一政策,或者仅仅依靠单个国家或地区的某一倡议与行动,均不足以应对"一带一路"建设中的跨国环境风险,这将倒逼国内与国际社会提升环境保护的战略地位,构建新型环境治理体系。"一带一路"沿线的各地政府不仅要发挥生态环保的示范作用,还要建立横向若干部门和纵向各级政府的协同治理机制,完善环境保护跨国合作制度,鼓励企业、NGO组织与民间力量、智库共同参与环境治理。