Stakeholders and public involvement in river management : Heterogeneous acceptance of participatory processes among Swiss institutions RESEARCH DESCRIPTION This research is part of a project funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and aims to evaluate the effects of the introduction of federal subsidies for participation in river management. In a Swiss setting where direct democracy implies that a reasonable level of project acceptance is a necessary element of project progression, public participation becomes a more important goal. This poster introduces the results of a survey exploring how public officers responsible of river management at the cantonal level understand participation. Nora Buletti*, Stephan Utz**, Olivier Ejderyan*, Olivier Graefe*, Stuart Lane***, Emmanuel Reynard** *Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg ** Institute of Geography and Sustainability, University of Lausanne *** Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, University of Lausanne WHAT ARE THE ISSUES AT STAKE ? •To what extent do participatory processes make river management more effective ? Issues raised around a river management project : submitted by experts / evoked by the public •How can we evaluate the success of participatory processes taking into account different perspectives ? BS TG BL JU ZH AG AR SO LU BE OW SZ GL NW UR FR AI SG ZG NE No data Canton Municipalies Canton and municipalies Corporaons GR VD GE R3 TI VS INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT Submied by experts 80 River management is a cantonal (regional) responsibility, under the supervision (and co-funding) of the State (a Confederation). Cantonal authorities often represent the contracting authority and also provide the participatory process supervision. In some cantons, this role is given to the municipalities and the canton supervise the projects. Polical support Evoked by the public 80 60 RESULTS / FINDINGS 50 Transparency of decision-making process 40 20 30 20 10 0 Project objecves Land use Leisure acvies / access to the river Project costs Participatory techniques Public information session FIRST PHASE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT Working group Information sent to all households OBJECTIVES Workshops •Understand how participatory processes are incorporated into river management practice in the Swiss context •Analyze the actual practice concerning participation in river management in the different Swiss cantons •Clarify the modalities of participatory processes implementation Website information Environment protecon Rules of the parcipatory process •Cantonal authorities involved in river management view and adopt participatory processes heterogeneously; this influences the practice of participative processes such that they are very different in every Canton •The appreciation of participatory processes is less related to an authority’s recognition of the importance of participation and more to specific local experience •How project owners consider ‘participation’ influences how they consider socio-technical controversies, and the place that emerging controversies take in the participatory process Public debate Other; visit of the construction site, exposition about the project Public involvement Conflicts idenficaon Addional benefits Informaon Legal obligaon Different considerations of participation •Participation restraint to institutions •Information as participation •Stakeholders’ participation •Participation as a democratic principle •Project improvement through participation Social network RESEARCH QUESTIONS •How do the different cantonal institutions implement and incorporate participatory processes in river management projects? AND •Which characteristics of participatory processes related to projects of river management can be identified in the actual Swiss context? METHODOLOGY Survey with a standardized questionnaire administered to cantonal supervisors in river management. BIBLIOGRAPHY Standardized qualitative interview guideline DATA COLLECTION 22 interviews (total population N=26) Transcriptions Coding with Nvivo Thematic content analysis DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS Avoid opposions 40 Datas: Interviews 2013-2014 Base map : FSO Choice of population and sampling Improvement of the project 60 70 % cantons CONTRACTING AUTHORITIES Acceptance of the project 100 % 90 SH Motivations to implement participatory processes Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods, 4th Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. Callon, M., Lascoumes, P. et Barthe, Y. (2001). Agir dans un monde incertain. Essai sur la démocratie technique. Paris: Seuil. Ejderyan, O. (2009). Une renaturation en béton! Comprendre la participation et la nature dans la renaturation de cours d’eau suisses au regard d’une théorie de la pratique. Zürich : Schriftenreihne Humangeographie 24. Fiorino, D. J. (1990). Citizen Participation and Environmental Risk - a Survey of Institutional Mechanisms. Science Technology & Human Values, 15(2), 226-243. Hostmann, M. (2005). Decision support for river rehabilitation. Zurich: Swiss federal Institute of Technology. Lane, S., Odoni, N., Landström, C., Whatmore, S.J., Ward, N. and Bradley, S. (2011) Doing flood risk science differently: an experiment in radical scientific method. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 36(1) : 15-36. Parkins, J.R. et Mitchell, R.E. (2005). Public Participation as Public Debate: A Deliberative Turn in Natural Resource Management. Society and Natural Resources, 18, 529–540. Tsouvalis, J. et Waterton, C. (2012). Building ‘participation’ upon critique: The Loweswater Care Project, Cambria, UK. Environmental Modelling and Software, 36, 111-121. Zaugg M., Ejderyan O., et Geiser, U. (2004). Normen, Kontext und konkrete Praxis des kantonales Wasserbaus. Zürich : Schriftenreihne Humangeographie 19. OFEV (20 Januar 2012), Wasser Risiken – Beurteilung Mehrleistungen - Partizipative Planung. Berne : Office fédéral de l’environnement. Loi fédérale sur l’aménagement du territoire du 22 juin 1979 (LAT) (État au 1er janvier 2014), RS 700. Loi fédérale sur l’aménagement des cours d’eau du 21 juin 1991 (LACE) (État au 1er janvier 2011), RS 721.100. CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONS [email protected] and [email protected] ESPPACE
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