Community participation in sustainable transition decision-making

7 min readJul 27, 2022

Transitions away from fossil fuel are, unfortunately, very rare, which means it has been difficult to find case studies of where the community has participated in sustainable transition processes. In order to draw upon the knowledge of others in determining a framework for participation in transitions (one subject of my PhD) it has been necessary to cast the net more widely. In reviewing the literature I have therefore looked at environmental decision-making in general, with a focus on Australian case studies. This is because context is important, especially when needing to understand the legislative environment in which transition decisions will be made.

I have written up a summary of 49 papers that represent a range of topics from the siting of wind farms and mines, to energy transitions, and natural resource management (references listed below). In all cases, decisions needed to be made and the community was engaged to varying degrees to participate in making these decisions. The review also draws upon key transition, policy, and governance scholarship.

I won’t be posting the summary publicly for the time being as I am still unclear about future publishing and copyright. For now I have created a rough summary in diagram form of the key points. This is still very much in draft and I will refine as the PhD proceeds.

Principles for community participation in sustainable transitions (draft)

STARTING: Setting up for success

Engage early
Open problem setting to a wide audience
Be honest about intent
Recruit for diversity

LEARNING: Collaboratively building knowledge and an evidence base for change

Facilitate knowledge sharing
Build domain literacy
Make information accessible
Respect and use local knowledge

ENGAGING: Proceeding with equitable and accessible participation

Offer multiple ways to take part
Use local and experienced facilitators
Encourage collaboration
Embed engagement in operations (rather than as a stand-alone unit)

BUILDING: Enabling participation for the long-term

Design for ongoing participation (including ends)
Be honest about influence
Share evaluations publicly
Design for short- and the long-term engagement

Principles for community participation in sustainable transitions

REFERENCES

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