Integrating planning and assessment through public involvement

Abstract

The necessity of providing public education regarding environmental assessment (EA) process and substance is examined. It is argued that public education as part of public involvement has thus far keyed almost exclusively on the project at hand ignoring EA process. Education in EA process would, in general, improve involvement. The potential techniques of a public education program — e.g., plain-language legislation and policies, knowledge-based systems — are established through the literature regarding public legal education and more generally public involvement in EA. The identified education techniques are applied, in a cursory fashion, as evaluation criteria to the requirements of three Canadian EA processes (Federal, Ontario, Manitoba). The requirements of all three processes utilize only partially the education techniques identified. It is suggested that seven public education techniques offer the greatest potential for facilitating EA process education, namely: citizen training, computer-based participation, open houses, plain language, phone-lines, publications, and videos.