Public Consultation for Sustainable Development Policy Initiatives |
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| Authors: | A John Sinclair |
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| Institution: | A. John Sinclair;is an associate professor at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba. His main research interest focuses on community involvement in the process of resource and environmental decision making. He has recently published works exploring the potential for transformative learning through the public involvement aspects of environmental assessment (EA). |
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| Abstract: | Involving the public in government decision making regarding sustainable development is a complex and difficult problem. This article suggests that weak public consultation, occurring at the operational planning level, is in part responsible for the lack of policy innovation in this realm. A case study technique considers approaches to public consultation in the development of sustainable development policy in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Using document reviews and qualitative interviews, two specific periods of policy development are traced with the outcomes of each being measured against creative consultative approaches established in the literature. It is revealed that using more complex consultative approaches at the normative policy planning level results in a number of positive implications, including mutual education and learning, participant satisfaction, policy innovation that has broad-based support, and results that have lasting implications on consultative proceshes. |
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