The acceptability of wind farms: the impact of public participation

The planning process for wind farm projects appears to be a complicated matter in many cases. Despite the positive attitude towards wind power in general, local wind farm projects often face strong opposition. The aim of this study is to shed more light on residents’ perceptions of participation in the planning process of wind farms. This study is based on interview data (N?=?22) and survey data (N?=?291) collected from residents living near two Finnish large-scale onshore wind farms built about 1.5 years before the data were collected. The results indicate that residents’ participation in the planning process was rather passive and the vast majority of the respondents perceived that they did not have an opportunity to participate. Quite interestingly, perceived participation in the planning process resulted in a decrease in acceptability in terms of perceived well-being. Furthermore, the results indicate that the need for participation does not expire after the planning process for a wind farm has concluded. Thus, project developers should be prepared to continue communication with residents after the planning phase.     

A ‘delivery-democracy dilemma’? Mapping and explaining policy change for public engagement with energy infrastructure

Understanding how governments orchestrate public engagement in energy infrastructure decisions has important implications for the relationship between energy transitions, democracy and justice, but existing research is deficient in focusing mainly on single case studies. In response, we conduct a multi-sectoral, comparative analysis for the first time to assess how UK governments have engaged publics, applying a novel mapping methodology that is systematic, longitudinal and cross-technology. Moreover, our focus embraces mechanisms of consultation and support measures (e.g. community benefits) and seeks to explain patterns of change using a pragmatist sociology framework. Findings indicate trends towards a reduced scope for public engagement alongside expanded encouragement of community benefits, but also important sectoral differences. On-shore wind moved towards giving local decision-makers significant control over decisions. Gas-fired power stations experienced continuity, with central government controlling consents and limited interest in community benefits. Fracking facilities received intense promotion of community benefits, alongside incremental moves to restrict local decision-making. We argue that the patterns observed reflect government beliefs about the scope for depoliticisation in concrete situations, in which the conjunction of technologies, sites and publics affects how and whether arrangements for public engagement change. These results raise challenges for how researchers seek to connect energy transitions and democracy.     

Making the sustainable more sustainable: public transport and the collaborative spaces of policy translation

This paper investigates where and how sustainable transport goals are translated into public transport planning and operations. The case where this is explored is the Regional Public Transport Authority (RPTA) in Stockholm, Sweden. By drawing upon recent discussions on policy translation and political–administrative relationships, sustainable transport is found to be translated in two different collaborative spaces in the RTPA. In the market side of the authority, which is mainly preoccupied with procurement of traffic and compliance issues, sustainable transport is translated into quantitative goals (including biofuels, emissions, noise, etc.) and mechanically reproduced from the politicians via the civil servants to the private operators. In the planning side of the authority, sustainability measurements have been hard to quantify and the challenge to integrate land-use and transport planning is resolved in an organic manner, in specific projects, between the strategic transport planners in the RPTA and the land-use planners in the municipalities, at a distance from the politicians’ involvement. Throughout the RPTA, sustainable transport has broadened to also include social sustainability, although this has been difficult to translate into quantitative measurements, which is the desired mode of governance by the politicians.     

Picking up speed: public participation and local sustainability plan implementation

Although planning scholars often argue that public participation improves implementation outcomes, this relationship is rarely empirically tested. This study investigates how public engagement, during planning and after plan adoption, impacts on the speed of local government sustainability plan implementation. It includes a correlation analysis of quantized in-depth interviews with sustainability planners in 36 American cities. The study finds that individual characteristics of public engagement, both during planning and after plan adoption, had statistically significant relationships to implementation speed, but in some cases this relationship was negative. The correlations imply that sustainability planners can make strategic choices to improve implementation speed through public participation in plan creation and after plan adoption. Alternatively, planners also make choices during participatory planning that slow implementation, a problematic outcome when the ultimate goal of a planning process is on-the-ground change.     

Analyzing social perception as a key factor in the management of protected areas: the case of the Sierra Nevada Protected Area (S Spain)

Protected areas cannot be considered as elements isolated from the human groups that inhabit them. Consideration of the social factor is fundamental to guarantee the success of any management model. In this sense, analyzing the perception of people who live in protected areas can be a key tool for the formulation of proposals for improving the existing models. This article explores perceptions of local residents in the Sierra Nevada Protected Area in Southern Spain and identifies the socio-demographic factors that affect these perceptions. The main objective is to generate relevant data for the protected area management team. The recommendations we can offer entail a review of the communication plan and participatory strategy considering social differences in perceptions of the local population.     

邻避冲突视角下环境群体性事件的发生过程及处理研究

共享发展理念要求全民共享改革发展成果,但当某些利于社会整体发展的项目设施建设将可能损害周边小部分群众个人利益时,政府管理部门如何合理协调处理好整体利益与个人利益的关系显得尤为重要,如果能提前做好相关调查应急预防工作,环境群体性事件的发生是完全可以避免的。本文从邻避冲突视角从微观上分析了环境群体性事件的发生过程、特点和内在机理,论述了邻避冲突引发的环境群体性事件的处理机制和政策措施。结果表明,舆情酝酿是引发环境群体性事件的关键,而解决舆情酝酿的关键则是参与人群边界的确定和恰当的信息公开。因此,建立有效的环境信息公开机制,对解决邻避冲突式的环境群体性事件具有重要的战略意义。同时,围绕邻避类项目的事前评价,提前做好损失预补方案和舆论疏导工作,有助于降低环境群体性事件发生的概率。具体说来主要可以通过建立环境类信息公开机制来了解民众的诉求,确保沟通渠道畅通;在信息公开的基础上,积极拓展并完善舆情监测与舆论引导机制,避免舆论因缺乏引导而持续发酵,引导舆论走向正面;建立环境类项目损害评估机制,本着公平、公正、公开、平等、自愿的原则进行不偏不倚的客观评估,制定科学合理的补偿方案;建立包括直接经济补偿和社会公益补偿等形式多样的环境类损失补偿机制;最后还要建立环境类事件过程监控机制,实行全过程、全方位管控,确保政府管理部门始终处于事件主导地位。在信息化不断发展、公民民主意识不断提升的背景下,努力提升政府治理能力显得尤为重要。在面对可能发生的矛盾焦点突出的环境群体性事件时,政府应当科学分析其产生发展的原因脉络,针对性地提出有效的解决方案。     

Convergence of stakeholders’ environmental threat perceptions following mass coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

Managing human use of ecosystems in an era of rapid environmental change requires an understanding of diverse stakeholders’ behaviors and perceptions to enable effective prioritization of actions to mitigate multiple threats. Specifically, research examining how threat perceptions are shared or diverge among stakeholder groups and how these can evolve through time is increasingly important. We investigated environmental threat perceptions related to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and explored their associations before and after consecutive years of mass coral bleaching. We used data from surveys of commercial fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents (n = 5254) conducted in 2013 and 2017. Threats perceived as most serious differed substantially among groups before bleaching but were strongly aligned after bleaching. Climate change became the most frequently reported threat by all stakeholder groups following the coral bleaching events, and perceptions of fishing and poor water quality as threats also ranked high. Within each of the 3 stakeholder groups, fishers, tourism operators, and coastal residents, the prioritization of these 3 threats tended to diverge in 2013, but convergence occurred after bleaching. These results indicate an emergence of areas of agreement both within and across stakeholder groups. Changes in perceptions were likely influenced by high-profile environmental-disturbance events and media representations of threats. Our results provide insights into the plasticity of environmental-threat perceptions and highlight how their convergence in response to major events may create new opportunities for strategic public engagement and increasing support for management.     

A comparison of cat‐related risk perceptions and tolerance for outdoor cats in Florida and Hawaii

Risk perceptions and attitudes toward animals often explain tolerance for wildlife and management preferences. However, little is understood about how these relationships vary across different geographic regions and stakeholder groups. To address this gap in knowledge, we compared differences in acceptance capacity, risk perceptions, perceived enjoyment from outdoor cats, and experiences with outdoor cats among 3 groups (general public, conservation community, and animal‐welfare community) in Hawaii and Florida, two states with large conservation challenges. We combined independently collected data from Florida and Hawaii, to determine how perception of the risks presented by outdoor cats, group membership, and state of residence influenced people's tolerance for outdoor cats. Florida respondents were significantly more tolerant of outdoor cats and less concerned about cat‐related risks than Hawaii respondents (p < 0.05). In both states, animal‐welfare group members reported greater enjoyment seeing cats and perceived a smaller increase in the cat population and lower levels of risk than other groups (p < 0.05). All groups exhibited similar relationships between acceptance capacity and enjoyment and the perceived increase in the cat population. Our results suggest public tolerance for cats varied due to the influence of local or geographical concerns, but that strongly held beliefs, risk perceptions, and feelings about cats explained more of the variance in stakeholder tolerance.     

Studying citizen science through adaptive management and learning feedbacks as mechanisms for improving conservation

Citizen science has generated a growing interest among scientists and community groups, and citizen science programs have been created specifically for conservation. We examined collaborative science, a highly interactive form of citizen science, which we developed within a theoretically informed framework. In this essay, we focused on 2 aspects of our framework: social learning and adaptive management. Social learning, in contrast to individual‐based learning, stresses collaborative and generative insight making and is well‐suited for adaptive management. Adaptive‐management integrates feedback loops that are informed by what is learned and is guided by iterative decision making. Participants engaged in citizen science are able to add to what they are learning through primary data collection, which can result in the real‐time information that is often necessary for conservation. Our work is particularly timely because research publications consistently report a lack of established frameworks and evaluation plans to address the extent of conservation outcomes in citizen science. To illustrate how our framework supports conservation through citizen science, we examined how 2 programs enacted our collaborative science framework. Further, we inspected preliminary conservation outcomes of our case‐study programs. These programs, despite their recent implementation, are demonstrating promise with regard to positive conservation outcomes. To date, they are independently earning funds to support research, earning buy‐in from local partners to engage in experimentation, and, in the absence of leading scientists, are collecting data to test ideas. We argue that this success is due to citizen scientists being organized around local issues and engaging in iterative, collaborative, and adaptive learning.     

Individualized water source as an indicator of attitudes about water management and conservation in humid regions

Public perceptions about water quantity and water as a common pool resource are understudied in humid regions. As water demand increases, the need to more closely manage water, even in humid areas, will increase, requiring better understanding how people perceive their water supply, how they view paying for water conservation and how water user characteristics influence attitudes. A survey finds correlations between utilizing an individual water source (e.g. well or spring) and attitudes toward water management and conservation. Compared to respondents with a shared water source, those with an individual source believe they are segregated from regional water concerns. They are less willing to pay for water management or conservation measures and less supportive of any government intervention in water management. These results suggest that planners and water managers may face resistance to conservation policies or any policy based on the idea of water as a common pool resource.