The general aim of public participation within ICZM is to enable project or programme success. An essential precondition for the success of any ICZM programme or project is the public appropriation and support. This activity should be carefully planned and organised.

When a decision needs to be taken for a plan such as building a harbour, a factory or developing tourism all options should be discussed openly within administration and in public to weigh their benefits against each other and to discover synergies.

General aims for involving the public include:

• the identification of key issues of concern to the public, addressing public perceptions,
• the provision of local expertise and knowledge,
• the identification of possible alternatives/options,
• ensuring that affected groups are involved at the very beginning of project design,
• the critical review of documentation.

The separation of these objectives is somewhat artificial as the achievement of one will often depend upon the achievement of another.

The willingness of developers to engage with the public and vice versa is often limited by concerns over costs and the need for confidentiality. Involving the public is also seen as time consuming.

Public participation is, however, necessary for increasing the legitimacy of planning decisions and enhancing the political credibility of developers. General experiences of public participation in EIA have shown that where developers do actively engage the public, even for large scale and controversial developments, there can be substantial benefits (see example of the wastewater sea outfall, Antalya, Turkey at this page).

Example: JOINT STOCK COMPANY "MINIJOS NAFTA" VERSUS KINTAI COMMUNITY, Lithuania

The issue

Company "Minijos nafta" is planning to initiate extraction of oil in Kintai, on the coast of Kursiu Marios, where an oil field has been found. There are plans to build two oil extraction sites Kintai 1 and Kintai 2. Minijos Nafta's has started mining activities in licensed area located out of settlement Kintai. Kintai community does not agree that oil extraction should be executed in the most spectacular coastal area, in a so called recreational zone of Kintai settlement. The first oil extraction site is planned in the beach and mass meeting area of Kintai, while the second one is planned at the fishermen harbor. Members of Kintai community state that the noise caused by mining activities, transportation and torches of burning gases will not only disturb their comfort and rest, harm their physical and psychological health but will also damage the nature. Inhabitants of Kintai will lose the possibility to organize tourism and recreation activities, which is a major business in the area. Furthermore, inhabitants of Kintai believe that their estate will become worthless. Due to dust raised by oil transporters it will not be possible to open the windows, to hang out the laundry and to eat vegetables grown in gardens. Object of the Minija Citizens' jury session is to clarify the conflict between the Private Joint Stock Company "Minijos Nafta" and community of Kintai.

Goals

1. to understand the conflict between the company "Minijos nafta" and community of Kintai;
2. to encourage the community involvement in a decision making at the local level;
3. to prepare a report on the Citizens' jury session;
4. to broadcast the results of the session.

Date and venue: September 6 - 7, 2003, Minija (Minge) village.

The participants

The idea of the pilot study was to involve participants who would represent different stratum of the society: representatives of Kintai community, local self-government, Lithuanian Ministry of Environment, state NGO, JSC "Minijos nafta", EIA organizers and business entities. Unfortunately, the efforts to invite businessmen that are not concerned with environmental protection or recreational business as well as representatives of other ministries and local self-governments have failed. Additional calls were made to make sure that all the participants will take part in the conference. Representatives of recreational business, community members and media were the most concerned about the Citizens' jury session.

The results

• The two opposing sides have presented their arguments and gotten involved in active debates. Individuals directly responsible for decision making took part in the conference.
• Kintai community has offered to exploit oil in the eastern part of the are where an oil field has been detected. The community proposed to construct drilling site out of the area of Kintai settlement. "Minijos nafta" representatives have offered to continueproceed the discussions in order to find the solution acceptable for both interested parties.
• The resolution has been prepared, passed and sent out to concerned institutions.
• The event was widely described in the press. About 80 000 people were able to hear about the results of the session and resolution; 5 journalists from local, regional and national newspapers took part in the conference;

Tasks set before the meeting had been realized, a common solution has been found for the issue.

The idea of the Citizens' jury is that given enough time and information, ordinary people can influence decisions about complex policy issues has been proven. Results of the session allows making the assumption that a Citizens' jury is an effective tool to involve public into the decision making process, therefore further use of such a technique would allow the reaching of long-term objectives regarding the implementation of the requirements of the Article 14 of the Water Framework Directive.

For more information:
http://www.riverdialogue.org/NGO/files/
Lithuanian_PP_Report_full_text.pdf