Department of Geography and Institute for Coastal Science and Policy, Brewster A230, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA.
Environ Manage. 2013 Aug;52(2):321-34. doi: 10.1007/s00267-013-0059-z. Epub 2013 May 22.
Extensive research demonstrates that public participation in environmental decision making can increase understanding of diverse worldviews and knowledge bases, public faith in governance institutions, and compliance with resulting rules. Concerns linger around costs, possibilities of polarization and decreased legitimacy in cases of poorly executed processes, and the ability of newly empowered groups to gain political leverage over others. If participants in public processes can bracket their personal experience to better assess other viewpoints, establishing mutual respect and understanding through deliberative exchange, they increase the likelihood of maximizing participatory benefits and minimizing risks. Such reflexivity indicates double-loop social learning, change undertaken through collective discussion and interaction. A capacity-building workshop program aims to foster such learning within the Maine fishing industry. Case material draws primarily on participant observation and interview data, using a grounded theory approach to qualitative analysis. Evidence indicates that in social contexts removed from the norms of daily life and the frustrations of past fishery management confrontations, harvesters acquire knowledge and skills that facilitate more strategic and productive behavior in formal and informal marine resource decision venues. Suspensions of longstanding spatio-temporal assumptions around the prosecution and management of fisheries comprise key learning moments, and yield corresponding changes in industry attitudes and actions. With heightened appreciation for a diversity of experiences and management priorities, harvesters can better mobilize a broad spectrum of local knowledge to develop viable regulatory proposals and collaborative decision processes.
大量研究表明，公众参与环境决策可以增进对不同世界观和知识基础的理解、增强公众对治理机构的信任、并提高对由此产生的规则的遵守度。人们仍然对成本、在执行过程不佳的情况下出现两极分化和合法性降低的可能性以及新获得权力的群体相对于其他人获得政治优势的能力感到担忧。如果参与公共进程的人能够将个人经验搁置一边，以便更好地评估其他观点，通过审议性交流建立相互尊重和理解，他们就更有可能最大限度地发挥参与效益，同时将风险降至最低。这种反思性表明了双重循环的社会学习，即通过集体讨论和互动进行的变革。一个能力建设研讨会计划旨在促进缅因州渔业内部的这种学习。案例材料主要借鉴参与者观察和访谈数据，采用扎根理论方法进行定性分析。有证据表明，在与日常生活规范和过去渔业管理冲突的挫败感相分离的社会环境中，捕捞者获得了知识和技能，这有助于他们在正式和非正式的海洋资源决策场所更具战略性和更富有成效地行事。渔业执法和管理方面长期存在的时空假设的暂停构成了关键的学习时刻，并导致行业态度和行动相应改变。由于对各种经验和管理重点的认识提高，捕捞者可以更好地调动广泛的本地知识，制定可行的监管提案和协作决策流程。
