Abstract
Examining environmental participation in decision making this chapter begins with a clarification of the term environmental decision making in relation to management and governance. Then I outline a conceptual framework based on the commonly used notions of instrumental, normative or substantive rationales for involving publics. The main part of the chapter is dedicated to two practical examples. One is the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership that spent three years examining technoscience knowledge and establishing the local community’s view on the possibility of siting a geological disposal facility (GDF) for radioactive waste in the area. The second example is the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA), a policy involving local communities in river management. In the final section the examples are considered in relation to the notion of technologies of elicitation.
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The 2011–2014 InSOTEC (International Socio-Technical Challenges for implementing geological disposal) collaborative social sciences research project, funded under the European Atomic Energy Community’s 7th Framework Programme was led by Dr. Anne Bergmans, University of Antwerp.
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Detailed information about the partnership is archived at http://www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk, the work is summarised in the final report: West Cumbria MRWS Partnership. 2012. The final report of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership. Copeland Borough Council and 3KQ Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9573709-0-6.
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https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/quote, July 30, 2019.
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Landström, C. (2020). Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making. In: Environmental Participation. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33043-9_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33043-9_3
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