Role of Social Media in Environmental Democracy

Abstract

Environmental democracy sets a standard for how decisions should be made. At its core, environmental democracy involves three mutually reinforcing rights that, while independently important, operate best in combination: the ability for people to freely access information on environmental quality and problems, to participate meaningfully in decision-making, and to seek enforcement of environmental laws or compensation for damages. There are three fundamental rights: Access to Information, Citizen Participation, and Access to Justice. Social media can certainly play a vital role in all three fundamental rights. This chapter identifies the role of social media in these three fundamental rights with respect to environmental democracy. The chapter introduces environmental democracy and associated challenges. It then builds a model based on social media to lead to successful environmental democracy campaigns.