Friday, March 6, 2009

[EQ] Enabling Environmental Justice: Assessment of Participatory Tools

Enabling Environmental Justice: Assessment of Participatory Tools

 

Background Report Prepared for: Environmental Department

United Nations Institute for Training and Research

 

Manjula Amerasinghe, Leanne Farrell, SheeShee Jin, Nah-yoon Shin, Kristen Stelljes

Department of Urban Studies and Planning - Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT  - 2008

 

Executive Summary [78p.] at: http://web.mit.edu/jcarmin/www/carmin/EnablingEJ.pdf

 

“…..A growing body of literature points to the importance of public participation in enabling procedural justice in public decision making. Procedural justice, in turn, is a prerequisite for distributive justice, which in environmental decision-making contexts, is the underlying tenet of environmental justice. Without the meaningful inclusion of those who will be impacted by the outcomes of environmental decision-making, fair distribution of environmental benefits and harms is unlikely to result.

 

This report sets out to test the extent to which various participatory tools have the potential to enable procedural justice in the environmental arena. The report synthesizes the findings of 59 case studies applying seven different participatory tools to environmental decision-making contexts in developed and developing countries. Tools analyzed are: notice and comment, public hearings, focus groups, participatory workshops, citizen advisory committees, citizen juries and referenda.

 

Findings show that different participatory techniques can, indeed, play an important role in improving decision making and enabling procedural justice, a fundamental component of environmental justice. Of the tools analyzed, participatory workshops have the greatest potential to be inclusive, interactive and empowering to participants. Yet, even for this tool and others that demonstrate high potential along these dimensions, several key capacity requirements must be first fulfilled. Participatory tools in general were found to be time consuming, financial and human resource intensive, and requiring of specialized skills and knowledge from their sponsors. Furthermore, the adequate inclusion of marginalized groups – a fundamental component of procedural justice – requires special attention on the part of governments to make sure participatory processes serve to level the playing field among stakeholders rather than perpetuating imbalances in access to power…..”

 

Content:

 

I. Introduction

1. Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making

Principles and features of participation

The benefits of public participation

Limitations of participation

Considerations Necessary in Public Participation

Inclusion of Public Participation in International Environmental Decision-Making

2. Environmental Justice via Public Participation

Principles of Environmental Justice: Distributive and Procedural Justice

Distributive justice

Procedural justice

Significance of Environmental Justice

Implementation of democratic environmental science

Establishment of legal frameworks at national and international levels

International Diffusion of Environmental Justice Movement

3. Purpose of Report

4. Methodology and Limitations

Identification and contextualization of participatory “tools”

Identification of case studies

Analysis of case studies

Limitations to the methodology

II. Use of Participatory Tools in Practice: Empirical Evidence

1. Notice and Comment

Overview

Contexts/sectors where used

Capacity Requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Tools in Action #1: Notice and Comment, Northwestern United States

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Other Issues of Relevance to Environmental Justice

Tools in Action #2: Notice and Comment, China

Tool Summary #1: Notice and Comment

2. Public Hearings

Overview

Context/Sectors where used

Capacity Requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Tools in Action #3: Public Hearing, Nepal

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Tool Summary #2: Public Hearings

3. Focus Groups

Overview

Contexts/sectors where used

Capacity Requirements

Time

Human Resource Capacity and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Tools in Action #4: Focus Group, waste management strategies in Hampshire, UK

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Tools in Action #5: Focus Group, flood protection in the Netherlands

Tool Summary #3: Focus Groups

4. Participatory Workshops

Overview

Context/Sectors where used

Capacity requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Tools in Action #6: Participatory Workshop, Nepal

Education and Knowledge

Tools in Action #7: Participatory Workshop, Spain and Italy

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Tools In Action #8: Participatory Workshop, protected areas in Madagascar

Tool Summary #4: Participatory Workshops

5. Citizen Advisory Committees

Overview

Contexts/sectors where used

Capacity Requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Tools in Action #9: Citizen Advisory Committee, Sweden

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Other Issues of Relevance to Environmental Justice

Tools in Action #10: Advisory Committee, Philippines

Tool Summary #5: Citizen Advisory Committees

6. Citizen Juries

Overview

Contexts/sectors where used

Tools in Action #11: Citizen Jury, Australia

Capacity Requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Other Issues of Relevance to Environmental Justice

Tools in Action #12: Citizen Jury, Estonia

Tool Summary #6: Citizen Juries

7. Referenda

Overview

Contexts/sectors where used

Tools in Action #13: Referendum, Peru

Capacity requirements

Time

Human Resources and Funding

Education and Knowledge

Implications for Environmental Justice

Inclusion

Interaction

Empowerment

Other Issues of Relevance to Environmental Justice

Tools in Action #14: Referendum, India

Tool Summary #7: Referenda

III. Conclusions

Key Findings

Table 1: Summary of Input Requirements by Participatory Tool

Table 2: Summary of Outputs by Tool, Overall and for Marginalized Groups

Implications for Environmental Decision Making and Environmental Justice

IV. Works Cited

Annex 1: Comparative Tool Analysis

Annex 2: Case Study Articles Reviewed

 

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