TY - JOUR
T1 - Public and stakeholder participation in European water policy: A critical review of project evaluation processes
AU - Antunes, Maria Paula Baptista da Costa
AU - Costa, Nuno Miguel Ribeiro Videira
AU - Santos, Rui Jorge Fernandes Ferreira
PY - 2006/1/1
Y1 - 2006/1/1
N2 - The recent reform of the European water policy recognizes the importance of devel- oping effective mechanisms to support public and stakeholder participation in river basin decision-making processes. This paper critically reviews the evaluation processes of different types of water related project in five European countries (Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain), with respect to participatory criteria. The horizontal comparison of these cases accounted for crite- ria such as the political and institutional context, the design, the implementation and the evaluation of the outcomes of participation. The results indicated that, in the majority of the case studies, participation was simply adopted to conform to the req- uisites of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. Thus, there was truly no room for the active involvement and collaboration of the interested parties. The devel- opment of guidelines, drawing from the analysis of past experiences, is expected to support the implementation of the participatory objectives of the EU water policy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
AB - The recent reform of the European water policy recognizes the importance of devel- oping effective mechanisms to support public and stakeholder participation in river basin decision-making processes. This paper critically reviews the evaluation processes of different types of water related project in five European countries (Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain), with respect to participatory criteria. The horizontal comparison of these cases accounted for crite- ria such as the political and institutional context, the design, the implementation and the evaluation of the outcomes of participation. The results indicated that, in the majority of the case studies, participation was simply adopted to conform to the req- uisites of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive. Thus, there was truly no room for the active involvement and collaboration of the interested parties. The devel- opment of guidelines, drawing from the analysis of past experiences, is expected to support the implementation of the participatory objectives of the EU water policy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
KW - public and stakeholder participation
KW - Water Framework Directive
KW - water project evaluation
KW - European water policy
U2 - 10.1002/eet.401
DO - 10.1002/eet.401
M3 - Article
SN - 0961-0405
VL - 16
SP - 19
EP - 31
JO - European Environment
JF - European Environment
IS - NA
ER -