WHY PARTICIPATE
Why is Public Participation in the Wave Energy Siting Process Important?
The potential for adversarial relationships is strong when it comes to coastal resource management issues. Stakeholders are numerous and ideas vary greatly regarding the appropriate use of beaches, wetlands, and other coastal resources, like wave energy.
The smart coastal manager knows getting stakeholder "buy in" is imperative to implement coastal management projects successfully. Technology offers new tools for accomplishing this goal.
Engaging Communities: Collaborative Design and Planning
Involving the public early in the decision-making process is the best way to craft community plans. For many, this means asking for input before, rather than after making decisions. Engaging citizens early in the process can defuse controversial issues and build consensus for decisions. Most importantly, when community members work together to explore alternative solutions, new ideas and creative approaches emerge.
Stakeholder buy-in is essential to the success of anything the government undertakes. If the people and organizations that are directly affected by actions are only passively supportive of what the government does, it becomes that much more difficult to move forward. Change becomes difficult. Daily operational maintenance becomes difficult. The ability to overcome obstacles becomes very difficult.
Communication with stakeholders is key, but that’s only half the battle. When dealing with stakeholders and seeking their support, the government must cease being “government-centric” and become “stakeholder-centric.” Give stakeholders ownership in programs - Don’t only think in terms of what is best for the State, but what is best for the stakeholders AND the State.
Here are five simple steps to ensure stakeholder buy-in:
1. Organize: Identify and merge compatible organizational and stakeholder values. People work better together when they can agree on something. Look for common ground via a thorough values inventory process. Discuss the findings with a representative stakeholder advisory committee, and together identify workable solutions to common concerns and issues.
2. Recruit: Invite participation in the process. Any group that focuses on an issue or program is smarter than any individual ever will be. Asking for ideas and help will yield amazing results.
3. Accept: Once the discussion begins, make sure to create an open atmosphere of cooperation and acceptability. Every idea, every suggestion, every concern should be accepted with open arms. It’s sort of like the cardinal rule of brainstorming that negative feedback is forbidden – at least in the idea-creation stages. Suggestions can always be evaluated later. And remember, if a suggestion or idea is not used, tell the stakeholder why.
4. Involve: Stakeholders are more likely to provide behavioral support if you give them meaningful tasks to perform. In other words, provide hands-on opportunities for them to make a difference. Each task should play a small but significant role in the ultimate success of the campaign or project or activity or policy change.
5. Appreciate: Be magnanimous. People like to be thanked and to know that they made a difference through their contributions. Show appreciation for their contributions of time, tangibles and efforts. Celebrate success.
The collaborative design and planning process requires patience and a large time commitment to identify needs, engage stakeholders, plan, and work through the process. While this approach is not ideal for problems requiring overnight solutions, it's valuable when citizen involvement is considered essential, and public support and collaboration are needed to achieve goals set by the community.
Starting the Process
Getting started on a project of this magnitude may seem overwhelming, as wave energy is becoming a contentious issue. There are many aspects that need to be addressed, like the environmental, social, and economic impacts of wave energy parks.
This web site seeks to promote discussion and hopes to facilitate agreement on issues related to Wave Energy on the Oregon Coast by:
• Facilitates communication between conflicting interests
• Educates participating individuals about local resources, uses, and impacts on marine resources
• Alerts individuals to the various potential impacts their decisions may have on the environment and community
• Enhances public "buy in" to the final decision
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Case Study:
Bringing players to the table: In the case of the Channel Islands, the commercial fishing industry, wildlife and resource conservationists, and governing authorities initially had very different views about the best possible locations for protected areas. In order to address all aspects of this contentious issue, the sanctuary, in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Game, developed a multistakeholder-driven process to weigh the potential environmental, social, and economic impacts of an ecological reserve. Because they wanted to incorporate numerous factors and location (or spatial) data, they opted for a technology-based approach. Although data is inherently subject to constraints, the software seeks to offer participants differing views of the potential environmental and economic impacts of various site locations.
The Channel Islands – Spatial Support and Analysis Tool (CI-SSAT) began by building a working group consisting of representatives from federal, state, and local governments, fishermen, conservation biologists, recreation groups, and the local community. The members of the working group voiced the concerns and wants of their respective constituencies. In conjunction with identifying the desires of stakeholders, the project coordinators gathered spatial and informative data for the CI-SSAT software. Sources of data included existing digital data and local information gathered from personal interviews. The result of these processes is the collection of data and the weighting scheme utilized in CI-SSAT.
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