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In-Depth Information
participated in the process.
48
However, the extent to which this effect is
realised and the type of participatory processes that would be needed to
bring the public on board will of course depend on the nature of the
decision concerned and whether it is relatively clear cut or raises matters
over which prior debate is required, if a consensus position is to be
identi
ed. Ecological policies and decisions about how they should
be implemented, because they will almost certainly require citizens to
make some personal sacri
ces in the public interest, fall into the category
of decisions for which extensive involvement with political decision-
making would be necessary if the chances of their acceptance are to
be increased.
Situations in which the public have an open opportunity to present their
views and values and to challenge those advanced in support of other
perspectives are more likely to result in acceptance of the outcome than
those which simply allow individuals to make their views known. The key
factor in this is, as Smith argues, that participants, because of their personal
involvement, are able to understand the validity of the process by which it
was reached even if they disagree with its substance. Whilst there is no
guarantee that acceptance will follow from involvement in deliberation, its
inclusive and open nature is more capable of providing a defensible justi
-
cation for decisions (to those bound by them) where controversial issues are
raised than a remote process in which no tangible opportunity has been
provided for in
uencing its result.
49
Public participation in deliberative fora would, as I note in
Chapter 4
,
be needed to
esh out what ecological sustainability entails when
regional and local circumstances are taken into account, and, in general,
to obtain support for a governmental position that immediate and
on-going action to reduce ecological stresses must be taken.
50
The
decision-making frameworks I propose lay down ecological objectives
and provide guidance on how these might be advanced. However, it is for
regional and local authorities, working in conjunction with the public, to
explore how ecological values, and the limitations that their supervening
status places on con
ected
inthefuturedevelopmentoftheareasthattheyareresponsiblefor
governing and inhabit. Structures for ecological governance may set
the desired course, but central and lower levels of government must
make the case through deliberation and other media that this is an
icting economic and social goods, are to be re
48
Barton,
49
'
Underlying Concepts
'
,p.105.
Smith,
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
,p.58.
50
Chapter 4,
Section 4.6.2
.
