Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The United Nations Environment Programme lists five interrelated components of
effective public participation:
1. identification of the groups/individuals interested in or affected by the proposed
development;
2. provision of accurate, understandable, pertinent and timely information;
3. dialogue between those responsible for the decisions and those affected by them;
4. assimilation of what the public say in the decision; and
5. feedback about actions taken and how the public influenced the decision (Clark 1994).
These points will be discussed in turn.
Although the identification of relevant interest groups seems superficially simple, it
can be fraught with difficulty. The simple term “the public” actually refers to a complex
amalgam of interest groups, which changes over time and from project to project. The
public can be broadly classified into two main groups. The first consists of the voluntary
groups, quasi-statutory bodies or issues-based pressure groups which are concerned with
a specific aspect of the environment or with the environment as a whole. The second
group consists of the people living near a proposed development who may be directly
affected by it. These two groups can have very different interests and resources. The
organized groups may have extensive financial and professional resources at their
disposal, may concentrate on specific aspects of the development, and may see their
participation as a way to gain political points or national publicity. People living locally
may lack the technical, educational or financial resources, and familiarity with relevant
procedures to put their points across effectively, yet they are the ones who will be the
most directly affected by the development (Mollison 1992). The people in the two
groups, in turn, come from a wide range of backgrounds and have a wide variety of
opinions. A multiplicity of “publics” thus exits, each of which has specific views, which
may well conflict with those of other groups and those of EIA “experts”.
It is debatable whether all these publics should be involved in all decisions, for
instance, whether “highly articulate members of the NGO, Greenpeace International,
sitting in their office in Holland, also have a right to express their views on, and attempt
to influence, a decision on a project which may be on the other side of the world” (Clark
1994). Participation may be rightly controlled by regulations specifying the groups and
organizations that are eligible to participate or by criteria identifying those considered to
be directly affected by a development (e.g. living within a certain distance of it).
Lack of information, or misinformation, about the nature of a proposed development
prevents adequate public participation and causes resentment and criticism of the project.
One objective of public participation is thus to provide information about the
development and its likely impacts. Before an EIS is prepared, information may be
provided at public meetings, exhibitions or telephone hotlines. This information should
be as candid and truthful as possible: people will be on their guard against evasions or
biased information, and will look for confirmation of their fears. A careful balance needs
to be struck between consultation that is early enough to influence decisions and
consultation that is so early that there is no real information on which to base any
discussions. For instance, after several experiences of problematic pre-EIS consultation,
one UK developer decided to conduct quite elaborate consultation exercises but only after
the EISs were published (McNab 1997).
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