Practitioner Evaluations of Participatory Processes in Environmental Decision-Making

One striking feature of sustainability debates has been the opening up of decision making to wider ranges of voices and values. Public participation was enshrined in the Rio Declaration of the 1992 Earth Summit and the Johannesburg Declaration of the 2002 World Summit as a vital mechanism to ensure greater equity and legitimacy in the governance of sustainable development. European legislation has actively promoted participation through environmental laws such as the EU Water Framework Directive in 2000, which requires the ‘active involvement’ of interested parties in developing water resource and environment management plans (Article 14). The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) led the development of the Aarhus Convention (1998), which has public participation in environmental decision making as one of its three pillars.

In the UK, public and stakeholder participation is, rhetorically at least, a part of the culture of national government, local authorities and regulatory agencies, and an ‘essential’ part of the sustainable development strategy (DETR 1999, para. 7.87) (see Owens, 2000; Munton, 2003). Strong claims are made for the benefits of participation. Rowe and Frewer (2000: 24), for example, argue that ‘public participation in policy making … is necessary to reflect and acknowledge democratic ideals and enhance trust in regulators and transparency in regulatory systems’. Others, such as Rayner (2003) and Pellizzoni (2003), question whether current participatory practices are achieving the democratic goals claimed for them.