Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Participatory environmental management
One way of ensuring that the weaker are heeded is to give them a say in what should
be done. Participation and empowerment have become important for most western
nations and many international agencies. However, there are some countries which
prefer not to pass on too much control to the public: some are simply authoritarian
regimes, but in others the people seem to prefer to have the state co-ordinate firmly,
and sometimes authorities feel the public are not ready for participation. Increasingly
effective environmental management is seen as that which deals with people at the
local or community level.
Sustainable development strategies need to be designed to fit local conditions
and be co-ordinated to ensure that one locality does not conflict with another.
Environmental management should act as mediator and catalyst to develop
collaborative approaches (Selin and Chavez, 1995). And in this, public support
can be crucial (Box 12.2). For example, it is pointless promoting tree planting if
people later fail to take care of the growing saplings. Environmental problems are
often a sum total of individuals’ actions, so people may have to change their attitudes
to ensure a solution. Working with local people can inform environmental managers
of threats, limits and opportunities they might otherwise have missed (Lise, 1995;
Park, 1997).

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PARTICIPANTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
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BOX 12.2 Why the public should be involved in environmental
management
♦ The public may be able to provide advice that would be missed
♦ Open planning and management should be more accountable and more
careful
♦ Fears and opposition to management may be reduced if people are informed
♦ If people identify with management they may well support it
♦ It reduces risk of a communication gulf between ‘experts’ and ‘locals’
Note: The public is often a mixture of different groups: local people of differing
age, sex, etc.; regional, national, or global groups.
Involved may mean minimal information; adequate information; active
input to management before and during development; or involvement after
management decisions.
Sources: Author; Wilkinson, 1979