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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment>

An Essay and Workshop for Local Elected Leaders on Environmental Governance
with Emphasis on Adopting Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs)
- Training for Elected Leadership -

Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- WORKSHOP -

WORKSHOP COMPONENTS

13.3 Exercise: ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM FINDING

This exercise is to provide a list of high priority local environmental problems to serve as the basis for small group work throughout the workshop.

There are two process options for this exercise. Option A is the appropriate choice if participants have been asked to complete a pre-workshop assignment and arrive at the workshop with completed worksheets. Otherwise, choose option B.

Ask participants to review the worksheets they have completed as a pre-workshop assignment and to select three problems from these worksheets which they believe are now or may soon become significant hazards to the local environment. In other words, the problems selected would represent high priorities for resolution by the local authority. Suggest that participants ask problem formulating questions like:

• Why is it a problem?
• What possible hazard does it represent?
• What might happen if nothing is done about it?

While participants are selecting priority problems from their worksheets, print on a sheet of newsprint, in large letters, six to ten environmental problem categories such as air pollution, solid waste disposal, water supply, transportation, land use, housing, sewage disposal, and so forth. Be prepared to add other categories if necessary.

When participants have selected their three problems, explain that they will be working during the workshop in small groups of between five and ten organized according to environmental problem categories. Present the list of environmental problem categories, printed earlier on newsprint, and ask participants if other categories should be added to the list. Ask each participant to choose an environmental problem category which is associated with one of the participant's high priority problems. Then organize participants into small groups that correspond with their selections.

When participants have chosen the small groups in which they want to work, assign each small group to a specific work area where they will be meeting throughout the workshop. Suggest that participants, in their small groups, take approximately one hour to share their problem priorities and to agree on a specific aspect of the risk category to focus on during the workshop. For example, a solid waste group might choose to focus attention on problems related to the accumulation of solid waste in roadways rather than those related to landfill overloading or vice versa. Specific problems brought to the group by participants from their own local authorities should be the basis for defining the focus of the small group.

There is an alternative process for assembling a list of local environmental problems assuming you decided to omit the pre-workshop assignment described previously or in the event participants arrive at the workshop without having completed their worksheets. Option B makes use of a well-known idea generating activity called the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Equipment and materials required for the NGT include an easel and newsprint sheets, index cards or "post-it notes," if available, and masking tape.

Serving in a facilitator role, proceed as follows with the five step NGT process:

Step 1:
Write a statement like the following in large letters on a sheet of newsprint to focus the group's attention:

What are the most relevant environmental problems currently facing the community served by your local authority?

Step 2:
Give participants four to five minutes to think about the question and to print the relevant problems facing their respective communities in concise, one sentence statements on index cards or "post-it notes," if available, one statement per card.

Step 3:
Ask for participants to tape their completed index cards or "post-it notes" on a designated wall of the training room .

Step 4:
Allow ten minutes (depending on the size of the group) for clarification of problem statements to prevent possible misunderstanding.

Step 5:
The final step in the NGT is to reduce the relatively long list of problem statements to a short list of potentially high risk environmental hazards. Allow a few minutes for participants to "brouse" along the wall where the cards containing problem statements have been taped. Ask participants to review the cards and select the three problems which each believes represent the gravest threat to the local environment. Ask participants to record their selections by placing a check mark (P) on the three cards containing their choices. Problem statements with the most mentions are top candidates for assignment to small groups for subsequent workshop activities.

The formation of small groups can be based on the assignment of participants who are interested in similar environmental problems to appropriate environmental problem categories as described above in option A.

Table of Contents

• Brochure
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• International Year of Forests
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• World Environment Day
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• UNEP Campaign
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