Stakeholder participation in knowledge production regarding complex environmental problems

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Stakeholder participation in knowledge production
regarding complex environmental problems

• Dr. Jeroen van der Sluijs
• Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development
  and Innovation
• Utrecht University

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• Knowledge used for policy-making and public
  debate should not only be excellent from a
  scientific point of view it also needs to be
  socially robust, responding to policy, social,
  economic needs or concerns. This involves
  expertise beyond traditional and professional
  peer community to include those with practical
  or other knowledge about the issue at hand.
• EU White Paper on Governance, Liberatore, A.
  rapporteur, 2001.

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MNP Guidance on Stakeholder Particpation

• Why do you want participation?
• What should the participation be about?
• Who do you want to involve?
• How much participation do you want?
• What form are you choosing?

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Incentives for participatory risk assessment

• Instrumental
• decrease conflict/increase acceptance of or trust
  in the science
• Normative
• process should be legitimate/ democracy
• Substantive
• relevant wisdom is not limited to scientific
  specialists and public officials
• Bounded rationality
• Increase quality
• (Stern Fineberg, Understanding Risk, Informing
  Decisions in a Democratic Society, 1996)

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A Ladder of Citizen Participation, Arnstein, 1969
1 Manipulation and 2 Therapy. non participative,
cure or educate the participants. achieve public
support by PR.3 Informing. one way flow of
information4 Consultation. attitude surveys,
neighbourhood meetings and public enquiries.
Window dressing ritual5 Placation. Allows
citizens to advise but retains for power holders
the right to judge the legitimacy or feasibility
of the advice.6 Partnership. Power is
redistributed through negotiation between
citizens and power holders. Shared
decision-making responsibilities.7 Delegated
power to make decisions. Public now has the power
to assure accountability.8 Citizen Control.
Participants handle the entire job of planning,
policy making and managing a programme.
http//lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-o
f-citizen-participation.html
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No participation

Niet interactief


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Different functions in the process of
environmental risk management and the position of
IA within this broader context.
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• Stakeholders can agree or disagree on different
  levels
• Ideological view. This is the deepest level of
  disagreement and can lead to very different views
  of whether there is a problem or what it is. One
  can hold the view that a radically different
  ideological starting point is required.
  Ideological argumentation focuses typically on
  ideology and alternative societal orders.
• Problem setting and goal searching. Groups may
  agree on the existence of a problem, but not on
  identifying precisely what the problem is, how to
  formulate it, and what the end goal or solution
  point should be.
• Problem solving. Groups may agree on the
  existence of a problem and further agree on
  policy goals but disagree on the strategies and
  instruments required to reach the goal. Problem
  solving argumentation typically focus on
  effectiveness, side effects, and efficiency of
  methods.
• Outcomes and fairness. Groups often care about
  the fairness of solutions to problems, but can
  hold different views on what constitutes fair
  outcomes. For example, one can hold the view that
  the policy at hand does not serve the public
  interest or public wellbeing. Fairness
  argumentation focuses typically on public
  interest, unexpected societal side effects, and
  distributive justice.

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Value mapping and Argumentative Analysis
Stake-holder 1 Stake-holder 2 Stake-holder n Agreement Dis-agreement
Ideological view
Problem setting and goal searching
Problem solving
Outcomes and fairness
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Group of tools Tools
Knowledge elicitation techniques Interview Protocol analysis Card sorting / hexagon method Mental mapping / frames analysis
Brainstorming tools Delphi techniques Brainbox / electronic meeting
Spatial Visualisation tools GIS (Web-GIS) Maps / 3D scale models
Framing tools Reframing workshop / Round table conference Role playing games
Source Tom Raadgever, draft report for NeWater
project, 2005
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Group of tools Tools
Participatory Modelling Conceptual modelling System Dynamics Modelling Decision Support Systems Agent Based Simulation
Future-oriented tools Visioning workshop Backward mapping / back-casting Scenario workshop / development / analysis
Uncertainty analysis and KQA tools Numerical Unit Spread Assessment Pedigree (NUSAP) system QAAT
Source Tom Raadgever, draft report for NeWater
project, 2005
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Group of tools Tools
Design tools Creative competition Design studio Carrousel
Evaluation tools Multiattribute Utility Analysis Social Multi Criteria Evaluation Deliberative Monetary Valuation
Decision tools Group Decision Room Citizens jury
Source Tom Raadgever, draft report for NeWater
project, 2005
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local knowledge / Indigenous knowledge

• Knowledge that is unique to a given culture or
  society. IK contrasts with the international
  knowledge system generated by universities,
  research institutions and private firms. It is
  the basis for local-level decision making in
  agriculture, health care, food preparation,
  education, natural-resource management, and a
  host of other activities in rural communities.
  (Warren, 1991)
• Indigenous knowledge is used synonymously with
  traditional and local knowledge to
  differentiate the knowledge developed by a
  community from the international knowledge
  systems sometimes called Western system,
  generated through universities, government
  research centres and private industry. IK refers
  to the knowledge of indigenous peoples as well as
  any other defined community. (Warren, 1992)

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Local knowledge

• knowledge of local conditions, which may
  determine which data are strong and relevant,
• anecdotes
• informal surveys
• official information published by unofficial
  means
• investigative journalism
• can help to diffuse the policy problems

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• It may be argued that stakeholders lack
  theoretical knowledge and are biased by
  self-interest, but, as we have seen, it can
  equally well be argued that the experts lack
  practical knowledge and have their own
  unselfconscious forms of bias.
• 
  (source Jerry Ravetz)

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boundary work (Thomas Gieryn, 1983) The processes
in the science-policy-society interfaces by which
parts of a debate are depoliticized by defining
them as belonging to the scientific domain. By
drawing boundaries between science and policy,
scientists post keep out signs to prevent
nonscientists from challenging or reinterpreting
claims labeled as science.
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Models of participatory policy-making
(Pellizzoni, 2001)
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Participation and deliberation

• Traditional forms of involvement
• information dissemination public consultation
  public participation
• New forms of deliberation
• face-to-face communication argumentation use
  of local and expert knowledges to reach
  practical judgements about what to do.

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Positive benefits of deliberation

• increase range of valid knowledges
• increase the range of voices heard
• Increase reflexivity and capacity to learn

• increase legitimacy of policy decisions
• increase robustness of policy responses
• Increase public trust in democratic institutions

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Potential Problems

• open to capture by sectional interests
• inefficient use of resources time, people,
  money
• induces bureaucratic inaction

• stakeholder fatigue
• fuels public apathy and cynicism
• leads to forced /false consensus

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Conclusions

• Participation in knowledge production (as opposed
  to participation in decision making) is
  increasingly important
• The step from one-way towards two-way
  communication between science and society meets a
  lot of resistance in the scientific community -gt
  boundary work
• Methods for systematic harvesting and structuring
  of local knowledge are in its infancy huge
  challenges here