12. Public discussions: listening to all voices

Lead Papers

S. Augustin, J. Katima, E. Kilawe & B. Lyimo, Dr. Allan Barsky and Bill Diepeveen and Maureen Wilson and Karen Hanna, George Lutalo Bosa, Germain Dufour, du Hamel, Ian G. Gilchrist, Nikolai Grishin and Olga Tokmakova, Cliff Haas,Craig Hubley and Associates,Joy Hyvarinen, Pr. Abdelmonem KAANICHE, Anne M. Karanja,Dimitra KITSIOU, Alexander Theodore Lopin, Tatiana Mamatova,Dr. Sue L.T. McGregor, Marin R. Mehandjiev (Professor) and Krassimira R. Mehandjieva, Natalya Miroshnichenko, Gauri Mittal, Dr. Holger Nauheimer, Dr. Richard C. Rich, Alla Shevchuk,Dang Thanh Thuy,Robert Unegbu,Douglas Worts,DSc. Professor William M. Zadorsky

Augustin, Katima, Klawe and Lyimo proposed that tropical tree plantations may be an important component of the global carbon cycle because they represent a carbon sink that can be manipulated by humans and they ca mitigate the effects of tropical deforestation, which is the main biotic source of atmospheric carbon. The model is designed to assess the above ground-biomass for two even-aged, single species plantations with the same site class (Pinus patula and Eucalyptus saligna) as an attempt to quantify the carbon storage potential of the two species and their possible roles in carbon sequestration and atmospheric carbon dynamics.

Barsky, Diepeveen, Wilson and  Hanna proposed new ideas based upon material from a variety of perspectives, including conflict resolution theory, social work theory, and sustainable development theory. When all people are provided an opportunity to give voice in public discussions, sustainable development decisions will include a more complete range of perspectives, ideas, and solutions. People will be more committed to the processes, more trusting, and more likely to contribute. Past lip service to participatory decision making must give way to meaningful involvement. With a truly broad base of people being mobilized in a collaborative effort, a shared vision of the future is surely within reach. 

Grishin and Tokmakova discussed the following issues of public participation in environmental impact assessment: (a) goals and principles; (b) practical acpects; (c) legal, administrative and institutional frameworks; and (d) methods for arranging public participation in EIA. More practical experience dealing with public participation in environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context has been gathered since the entering into force the Convention in September 1997. Practical aspects of public participation in EIA in a transboundary context were discussed.

Light Pollution in the simplest terms is the result of too much wasted light. It has been estimated to cost the United States alone well over a billion dollars per year for the electricity generated to send light into the sky and across property lines where it serves no benefit (Haas,  Gent and Crawford).

 Hyvarinen contributed to the debate about the EU's role, in particular the EU's aspirations for a leadership role, in the international climate negotiations. This has been the subject of interesting projects, including the recent 'EU leadership initiative' launched by IEEP's partner office ECOLOGIC in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute. This paper aims to help catalyse further debate that could lead to new approaches to an 'old problem'. The key question is how the EU's negotiating approach can be strengthened. Why is the EU not more successful in pursuing its objectives in the climate negotiations? How can the EU overcome internal disagreements in order to operate more effectively?  

KAANICHE explained that sustainable development constitutes an evolutionary and very complex process making use of several disciplines and different data: economic, social and ecological. The decision in this field always leads to the choice of a variant of a national and/or local development plan . The reach and the complexity of decisions at the strategic and operational level, justify the realization and the development of a help Decision Support System. For more efficiency, decisions must be taken quickly and in real time taking in consideration several parameters together. The telegeoprocessing is the new discipline that perfectly answers to these requirements. Thus, we adopted the approach "Data-information-knowledge-intelligence ".

Mehandjiev and  Mehandjieva proposed  a contemporary clear and practically applicable definition of the notion "sustainable development" can be build, in accordance with the principle and approaches of the Bulgarian Association of Environmentalists and Ecologists - ABEECOL.

 During the last years, private companies as well as public agencies have been realized that consultation of stakeholder groups is an indispensable step for achievement of results and improvement of impacts (Nauheimer). Consequently, companies like The Body Shop, IBM, or Shell have developed their own tools to ensure that management decisions can be significantly influenced by customers, shareholders, employees, suppliers, the public opinion and other important groups. The World Bank, through the New Development Framework, will ensure stakeholder participation in identification, planning, implementation and monitoring of its programmes.

Rich explores the relationship between the features of collaborative environmental management and the conditions necessary for achieving sustainability. It draws on examples from eight cases of collaborative environmental management in the state of Virginia to discuss the conditions under which this is an appropriate response to environmental problems. The analysis asks how collaborative environmental management practices could be extended to efforts to promote community sustainability, and identifies the elements of this approach that are especially relevant to application in developing nations.