Public participation in environmental policy: considering scientific, counter-scientific and non-scientific contributions

TLDR

Environmental policy success relies on public participation, yet scientific framing and emphasis on expertise often marginalize lay perspectives, limiting genuine public involvement. The study proposes incorporating cultural, moral, and social understandings of the environment into policy design to enhance implementation.

Abstract

Environmental policy depends for its success on public participation. However, the scientific construction of environmental issues often means that such participation in policy-making is difficult when the public is not considered scientifically `expert'. Even if the notion of `expertise' is broadened to deal with this problem, this does not ensure truly `public'—i.e. lay—involvement, because lay ideas are still not included but are discounted as `non-scientific'. Further, emphasis on the scientific and environmental education of the general public will not guarantee policy implementation by individuals. Therefore, if we wish to design environmental policy that can be successfully implemented, we must consider other ways in which people relate to their environments as well as through scientific mediation—ways in which people `understand' their environments through culture, morality and social interaction—and build these into environmental policy.