Planning and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs: An Integrated Approach to Eutrophication


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United Nations Environment Programme
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics

Newsletter and Technical Publications
<Planning and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs:
An Integrated Approach to Eutrophication>

CHAPTER 4. PUBLIC AWARENESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

4.3. Public Participation

4.3.2. Identification of Stakeholders and Methods for Screening

Planning contacts with the public and public involvement activities for protection of lakes and water reservoirs requires the identification of stakeholders. Careful selection of participants in the social dialogue is essential for effective public participation in the decision-making processes.

The selection of stakeholders is based on the identification of the scale and type of aquatic environment interests dominant in a given community, the level of public awareness of the environment, including respect for common and personal interests, and on the degree of public concern and involvement.

It should be pointed out that sustainable conservation of water resources, including the problem of water eutrophication control in lakes and reservoirs, lies in the interest of all users of the environment, individual citizens and entire local communities, economic entities, and businesses. In some cases, the stakeholders must include local, national, or even international communities. Usually, individual users of the environment have different, often conflicting interests. Such issues may concern the issue of pollution of the environment, as well as the availability of water resources for production and consumption purposes and the use of environmental resources strictly connected with water conditions within a given area.

The scope and way in which particular groups of stakeholders express their interests may vary significantly. The scale of perception of interests may vary as well, from clearly personal with strong emotional intensity to the public ones, represented mainly by the local authorities. The perception of their own interests is often connected with myths functioning in a given community. It is also limited to problems of a short-term nature and strongly dependent on available facilities

The active identification of stakeholders in a given community can be carried out by:

screening existing organizations on the basis of source materials;
direct contact with organizations working within a given area;
using the experience and knowledge of local communities and administrative authorities.

Environmental reports and other existing materials of significance for water resources conservation can be used for this purpose. For example, such materials may concern the availability and use of water sources, water consumption, pollution emission to the aquatic environment, or the developmental needs of a given community. These materials usually identify all stakeholders, their goals and interests in the environment in an impartial way. If such materials are not available, an environmental screening of water management activities within a given area should be conducted.

Another useful method for screening the stakeholders is the identification of inter-relationships, which exist, or may exist in the future, among individuals initiating activities for lakes and water reservoir conservation and the public. They are:

Organizational relationships - include all acknowledgments to whom an individual can give, those who finance his/her activity, are his/her superiors or exercise any control.
Functional relationships - include all who deliver materials, data and technologies, and for whom an individual constitutes the source of materials, data, technology, etc.
Professional relationships - include all who, due to professional work, are involved in planing and implementation of a given project.
Diffusion relationships - comprise all who cannot be attributed to the above mentioned groups. This group includes persons interested in a given problem, such as women, the young, non-governmental organizations, members of associations and informal groups, as well as the mass media.

The most important way for identifying the stakeholders within a community is screening the water resource users. They are, first of all:

Groups connected with fishery, food processing industry, and rural settlement. This social and economic group is vitally interested in water availability for agricultural production and domestic purposes and in application of modern production methods increasing economic efficiency. Unfavourable environmental effects often occur due to ignorance of causes of potential danger. In many cases, liquidation of such causes requires a fundamental reconstruction of infrastructure and modification of cultivation techniques, which means a considerably longer transformation period requiring a long-term strategy, continuous public participation in the implementation of accepted projects, and the development of public awareness. Frequently, this group is a principal cause of negative changes in the water environment, as well as a recipient of negative effects. The fishing industry, whose existence depends on the quality of surface waters, can be an example here.
Groups connected with urban settlements. The basic interest of urban communities (understood in a public and personal context) lies in easy access to drinking and industrial water. It should be noted that recreational values are often recognized among urban communities, with eutrophication effects being considered as a direct effect of their own activities. Such a community can be easily convinced that water quality improvement can be achieved by modifying consumer behaviour (economical water management, selection of appropriate chemical products) and by undertaking necessary long-term activities requiring investment expenditure. Households are one of the major sources of the discharge of nutrients causing the eutrophication of surface waters.
Groups connected with industry. Some industrial branches are the source of discharge of nutrient substances into waters. In industrialized areas, the industrial sector can also be a significant water consumer and a source of an emission of specific pollutants.

Another important group of stakeholders is institutions indirectly or directly involved in water resource management. This group includes local government administration, regional water authorities, businesses, local, and supra local financial institutions. In addition, the stakeholders also include the scientific community, naturalists, and enthusiasts engaged in environmental protection. Their involvement may have a significant impact on issues concerning the development of the natural environment. When selecting the stakeholders, attention should be paid to those social groups which can assist or which may have a deciding, although not always fully visible, influence on obtaining the social acceptance for aquatic environment protection activities and their implementation. Women, the young, and representatives of the media, can be counted in such groups.

The role of women:

Women constitute a social group with a key role in the process of stimulating active public participation in environmental protection. On one hand, by the unique role they play in the family, bringing up children and creating the atmosphere of a family home, they can directly influence environmental public awareness in the family circle. On the other hand, by making everyday, a choice of products and by the way they run the household, they can make a significant contribution to the reduction of pollution discharged into the environment. The special role of women in the family, the basic social unit, as well as the emotional approach of most women to the transformation of the lifestyle of their own families and their skills of pro-social behaviour, are the features which determine the suitability of selecting the women as a separate group of stakeholders in the mass communication processes.

The role of the young:

The young constitute a social group, which already has a considerable environmental awareness and a highly emotional attitude towards the environment. Moreover, they are that part of society whose opinions may be formed through active participation in environmental activities. Their participation is also one of the ways of raising environmental awareness in society. Hence, when selecting social groups or their representatives for active public participation in decision-making processes, it is advisable to take into account a large representation of young people.

The role of media:

Cooperation with the media is the simplest and quickest way to reach public opinion. The media plays a key role in shaping the environmental public awareness and transmitting environmental messages to the public. That is why the level of awareness of people working for the media is of the utmost importance, along with the incorporation of media representatives into the stakeholder group for various forms of planned contacts with the public.

Active identification establishing an open relationship with stakeholders, conducted by initiators of environmental activities, will enable free expression of their action. Establishing public trust is a crucial factor. It should be built by propagating the idea of partnership in resolving environmental issues and convincing the public about the reliability of the process and authenticity of their participation. Hence, an effective information campaign, presenting opportunities and principles of participation and the role offered to the particular groups of stakeholders is critical to the success of public involvement activities. The campaign should be oriented to the public at large and be conducted through local media, direct communication, and invitation addressed to identified groups of stakeholders.

Identifying stakeholders may often be difficult or misleading due to various conditions. For example, some communities may not have well-formed stakeholder groups with a strong sense of identity. Very often, ethnic or religious ties may prevail in a given community. In such situations it is difficult to establish an appropriate representation of particular environmental groups of stakeholders. However, parallel representations of farmers, for example, consisting of representatives of various religions or even ethnic or tribal groups, can be a solution to this problem, creating in this way the opportunity to unite such a community. A similar problem may occur in a situation when some groups of stakeholders, important from the point of view of water protection strategy, have weak organizational structures, are less active, and strongly internally divided. It would then be necessary to provide opportunities for establishing an internal dialogue among members of those groups.

In this situation, the screening of communities from the point of view of the degree of involvement and awareness of particular persons or groups is very useful. The following can be differentiated:

Persons inside an organization involved in the decision-making process for the protection of lakes and reservoirs and groups of persons outside such an organization.
Groups of persons or persons according to their degree of influence on the decision-making process.
Groups of persons engaged at a given time in water environment conservation activities or groups of persons who should be incorporated into that process.
Groups of persons according to the opinions they voice on a given problem.
Groups of persons who recognize the need for changes but do not make any efforts to contact other groups; active groups aware of the need for changes, ready to undertake action, exchanging views with other social groups; silent groups unaware of the need for changes or contacts, or communication with other members of the community.

Selection of Citizens:

The selection of representatives of a community is carried out according to the adopted goals and the scope of public participation. Personal characteristics of a representative, skills, position in a given community, and connections with other groups of stakeholders are important in the selection.

Experience shows that each group of people have leaders, i.e., persons who are distinguished by their knowledge, experience and social activity, and who have the respect of a given group. Such persons will be the best to represent the interests of particular groups.

It is desirable that the persons who are chosen to represent a given community or a particular groups of stakeholders have the following attributes: ability to communicate with a group of people, ability to convey information and acquire knowledge, and social commitment, i.e., active work for specialized and social organizations. The representatives should be moderate in their judgments and open to the views of other people.

The representatives may have obtained a public mandate, for example, within formal and informal elections and ex-officio delegations or given by an organization representing members of a given group of stakeholders, such as farmers unions, branch unions, commune, municipal and district councils, organizations of businessmen, agricultural co-operatives, governmental agencies, and scientific circles. They should represent organizations with a large number of members which are representative for a given group, well settled in reality and have a long tradition of activity in a given community. Persons participating in the work of representative bodies on behalf of an organization should guarantee and be able to undertake binding obligations.

When selecting the representatives of stakeholder groups, attention should be paid, above all, to the condition of a balanced representation of all groups of stakeholders who use the environment within a given area. Omitting a group of people may jeopardize the efficiency of the conducted communication process. Failure to listen to opinions of such an omitted group of persons may impair the overall image of public participation.

In addition, regardless of the problem which the decision process is related to, one should also remember to include persons who:

are or will be affected by a given decision (or a problem or project);
may contribute valuable remarks;
most likely want to express their opinion on a given subject;
if omitted in the contacts, will be offended and therefore their actions may lessen the effects of the dialogue conducted with the public;
have public confidence and influence public opinion.

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