Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the term create a clear potential for con
ict. For example, whilst acting
to alleviate threats of ecological harm might be seen as something which
a legitimate government should do in the national interest, taking positive
steps to that end might be seen, if acceptance of their validity is not
secured, as an illegitimate exercise of authority once the consequences of
introducing an ecological orientation become apparent.
Irrespective of this conundrum, the reality for governments is that
creating a perception that they are acting legitimately is something with
which they must be concerned as, without it, their policies and pro-
grammes for their implementation may be opposed. Whilst it is inevitable
that not everyone will accept the wisdom of governmental proposals, there
is no shortage of examples in environmental and other policy areas where
governments have been dissuaded by a critical mass of antipathetic public
opinion from pursuing policies that, presumably, they perceived to be a
legitimate exercise of power when they were
rst proposed.
96
In addition,
signi
cant opposition would present a tangible barrier to implementing
ecological policies because, as I discuss in the following sections, active
public involvement with introducing associated change would be required.
The inescapable conclusion is that a government that wishes to effect
ecological change would need to put in place a system of governance
which engenders suf
cient acceptance that it is acting legitimately to
secure a mandate for proposed action in the places that policy implemen-
tation would affect. In this regard, making
'
generous provisions for parti-
cipation and in
would, as Lundqvist
argues, provide perhaps the most effective means available to governments
of reconciling the public to stringent measures for sustainability and
enhancing possibilities that these will be viewed as an appropriate exercise
of governmental authority.
97
uence in the planning process
'
4.6.2 Giving form to ecological sustainability
The involvement of those with knowledge of places, of local environ-
ments, and of the connections between places that enable them to
Policy, 2727, in which the author argues that there is a close connection between
perception of a decision-making process as fair and acceptance of the outcome.
96
Cowell and Owens refer to infrastructure development programmes that had to be
reconsidered by the UK Government because of the
'
veto
'
effect of cumulative public
opposition in R. Cowell and S. Owens,
'
Governing Space: Planning Reform and the
Politics of Sustainability
'
(2006) 24 Environment and Planning C,404
-
6.
97
Lundqvist,
'
Ecological Governance
'
,p.10.
