Opportunities for Greater Public Participation in the Natural Sciences : A Case Study of the Alde and Ore Futures ICZM Project, Suffolk, UK

Abstract

The discipline of Integrated Coastal Zone Management has the public’s participation in themanagement process at its core, as a way of achieving sustainable management of coastal andmarine environment. The UK, has to date, neglected this fact which has been to the detrimentof Suffolk coastline communities and management organisations alike, with disagreementsand distrust rife between the two societal sectors. The Alde and Futures Project is a newICZM initiative aiming to put right the situation; however, it noticeably lacks participationfrom the wider public. Research was therefore conducted to identify routes for greater publicparticipation through the natural sciences. Stakeholders, i.e. management organisationsconducting research grounded in the natural sciences, are mapped and subsequentlyinterviewed using a semi-structured interview format in order to identify their currentactivities, and opportunities and constraints to involving the public in their scientificactivities. Current efforts to involve the public are identified as pseudo science andopportunities to develop genuine public science projects subsequently discussed. It issuggested such projects will allow: the public to share the responsibility and privilege ofmanaging the coastal and marine environment; allow management organisations to worktogether towards common research goals and hence gain an ecosystem perspective; andfamiliarise local people with the principles of sustainability which are currently known, yet not fully endorsed.