ABSTRACT
Participation is the best social way for solving environmental
problems.
In this researching work, a methodology for public participation is
trying to be developed by analyzing different projects and watching
how different claimants have been participated and the types of the
more frequent allegations, because public participation is going to be
a key tool in the processes of Environmental Impact Assessment.
When we talk about participation, we aren’t talking about
popular queries or isolated consensus. We are talking about
multidimensional processes in which education, legal aspects,
organization, pure participation techniques and other social action
areas are working in parallel and go on, feed-backing and reinforcing
one each other. In the present Thesis is included all the legislation
about public participation in chapters 2 and 3 and the different public
participation techniques in chapter 4 and some remarks about
environmental education; all these topics are very important for a
good public participation.
Following types of projects have been selected, because of the
greater quantity of allegations and valid data found for this Thesis:
roads and highways, airports, thermal power stations, electric lines,
railway webs, pipelines, hydrological projects.
The methodology for analyzing the projects includes searching
and obtaining of the already developed projects or currently in
process of development, as well as presented allegations and queries.
In the second place, participants are analyzed in a methodical way in
four groups. Types of allegations have been identified and classified.
Tables and charts, that match participation of each type of claimer to
their allegations for each project have been built, with the aim of
obtaining a more summarized information and better organized, for
extracting better conclusions of each project regarding
environmental, legal and structural aspects.
The established scale is flexible and was carried out by seeking
advice from experts. Depending on number of claimers versus
allegations, projects may be improvable, unacceptable or correct2.
Environmental improvements by means public participation can be
found in final conclusions for each project. Finally, a methodological
proposal is developed and in the last chapter final conclusions and
future forecast are commented.
By means of case analysis, it has been verified that when
associations are active, representative and especially large and well
coordinated, it allows a more satisfactory participation and the
undertaking of important projects or even the planning of the
management of the field that affects them.
Participation may and must undertake all types of problems,
from the most local to the most global; the complexity and scope of
the challenge shouldn’t be limiting since we approach to the solutions
of big problems if we take advantage of the consensus and of the
richness of contributions given by participation.
The advantage of participation is that this process is more
transparent, the application of solutions better fitted to the necessity, in
agreement with the resources and better assumed by the implicated
parties. The solution itself will be more solid and transparent than if it
were thought by an exclusive team of technicians or controlled by
rules that have a difficult explanation.