Public participation and input framing in environmental decision-making: Lessons from South African Strategic Environmental Assessments [before doctoral defense]

Kivonat, rövid leírás

Public participation has become an established component of environmental decision-making. The growing emphasis on citizen participation is reflected in major global sustainability milestones, including the Rio Declaration, Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement. These instruments recognise access to environmental information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice as fundamental procedural environmental right (ECLAC 2018, Sharman 2023, United Nations 1992). Similarly, European Union directives such as the Access to Environmental Information Directive (2003/4/EC) and the Public Participation Directive (2003/35/EC) formalise these principles within regional governance systems (Ene 2014, Stec and Jendrośka 2019, Lopez‐Cubillos et al. 2022, Wesselink et al. 2011). In addition, the institutionalisation of public participation reflects recognition that environmental decisions involve not only technical and scientific considerations, but also different forms of knowledge, interests, values and societal concerns (Carrick et al. 2022, Sharman 2023, O’Faircheallaigh 2010). The formal recognition of public participation, however, does not imply that participation has a single or universally defined purpose. The literature identifies normative, substantive and instrumental rationales for public participation, reflecting different expectations about the role of stakeholders and the public in environmental decision-making (Wesselink et al. 2011, Sharman 2023). Participation may be understood as a democratic or procedural entitlement, as a means of incorporating knowledge and perspectives into decisions, or as a practical mechanism for addressing competing interests, building agreement and supporting implementation (Carrick et al. 2022, Höppner 2009, Sharman 2023). These rationales may coexist within the same governance framework or participatory process, while their relative emphasis may differ across contexts (Suškevičs 2019). Examining these differences is therefore important for understanding what participation is intended to achieve and how these purposes are articulated across environmental governance.