the importance of stakeholder dialogues in climate change adaptation prof. dr. martin welp...

The importance of stakeholder dialogues in climate change adaptationProf. Dr. Martin Welp

University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde

Photo: Hannah Förster

POLDOC-WORKSHOP, Gdansk, 26 October 2006

Prof. Dr. Martin WelpSocioeconomics & Communication

New International Masters Programme:Global Change Management

URL: www.fh-eberswalde.de/gcm

Outline

1. Coastal management and climate change

2. Management, policy and scientific stakeholder dialogues

3. Analytical and communication tools

4. Conclusions

Source: http://www.ikzm-.de

Europe‘s coasts

• High diversity of coastal areas (from urban centres to coastal wetlands with protected areas for birds)

• Many of Europe's coastal zones face problems of deterioration of their environmental, socioeconomic and cultural resources

Key coastal concerns

• Quality of coastal waters

• Nature conservation

• Construction activities on the coast

• Coastal erosion

• Tourism development

• Climate change

Emerging issue: climate change

• Rising sea levels

• Storm surges

• Winterstorms

• Coastal flooding

• Air humudity

Photos: National Trust, UK, Sten Suuroja

Four coastal management styles

Participatory approach

Excludingapproach

Integrated approach

Sectoral approach

Routine management

Sector-based participatorymanagement

Social engineering

Management as

mutual learning

Welp 2000

Stakeholder dialogues

• Planning for adaptation as a process of mutual learning

• Stakeholders include planners, decision-makers, politicians, scientists, and the interested public

• Finding ways to adapt to climate change

• Raising awareness of climate change and coastal issues

Three types of dialoguesType of dialogue Objectives Initiator / principal

coordinatorManagement dialogues

- participation, building consensus, conflict resolution

Municipalities, planning agencies

Policy dialogues - creating support for policies, building alliances, passing laws and regulations

Policy-makers, government agencies

Science-based dialogues

- combining knowledge bases, increasing social relevance

Researchers, scientific institutions, networks

Management dialogues

• Coastal zone management on local and regional level

• Carried out by municipalities, sectoral agencies, etc.

• Stakeholders include land owners, businesses, local interest groups etc.

• From 1996-1999, Information about factors that encourage or discourage ICZM

• Stimulating a broad debate and exchange of information among the various actors involved in the planning, management or use of European coastal zones

• Stakeholder consultations (seminars, written responses)

EU Demonstration Programme on

Evaluation

• Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe

• The results of this evaluation shall assist the European Commission

• http://www.rupprecht-consult.eu/iczm/

Science-based dialogues

• A science-based stakeholder dialogue is a structured communicative process of linking scientists with selected actors who are relevant for the research problem at hand.

• These actors may be representatives of companies, NGOs, local and regional planners, government agencies, etc.

Objectives of science-based dialogues

• Bringing together different knowledge bases• Identifying socially relevant research

questions • Identifying key data and parameters• ‘Reality check’

• - confronting mental models with reality• - confronting computer models with reality

• Preferences, expectations and decision-making rules

Tools for Dialogues

Communication tools Analytical tools

Communication tools

• Creating settings in which stakeholders with different backgrounds can team up and learn

• Examples: Focus Groups (ULYSSES), Games and role plays (ECF family of Climate Games), Visualisation

Analytical tools

• Structuring the problem

• Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement among stakeholders

• Examples: Group model building, Bayesian belief networks, Multi-criteria Analysis

Challenges

• Limited resources (stakeholder dialogues need to be effective)

• Stereotyping

• Trust building takes time

• Language barriers

• Different working cultures

• Difficulties in systems thinking

Conclusions• We need to create safe places where

the exchange of arguments is possible

• A combination of communication and analytical tools is needed

• We need to link scientific, policy and management dialogues

• Mainstreaming

Forthcoming book

Stoll-Kleemann, S. & Welp, M. (eds.) Stakeholder Dialogues in Natural Resources Management.Springer Environmental Sciences(November 15, 2006)

Learning for adaptation:Dutch cow ready for sea level rise…

Thank you!

Email: martin.welp@fh-eberswalde.deURL: www. fh-eberswalde.de/welp