The importance of citizen participation in the EIA

The comparative study of “The unexploded chemical munitions case study” (p. 733-734) and “The chemical demilitarization program case study” (p. 730-733) by Shepherd and Bowler (1996) shows obviously the importance of citizen participation in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). James L. Creighton (2005) defines public participation as “the process by which public concerns, needs, and values are incorporated into governmental and corporate decision making” (p. 7). Especially the environmental policy is directly related with the public’s life and concerns in many cases. That is, I believe, why citizens more actively engage in the public participation for environmental policy than other policies.

Weston (2003) states three advantages of public participation in the EIA process: 1) “the democratic right” of citizen to engage in the decision-making process, 2) the openness of information to the public, 3) establishment of understanding circumstances about the policy (p. 316). According to Creighton (2005), there are four steps of public participation: Inform the public, Listen to the public, Engage in problem solving and Develop agreements. In the case of environmental policy, the first step “Inform the public” is so important to encourage the public to be involved in the decision-making process. In the case of the chemical demilitarization program case study (Shepherd & Bowler, 1996), the pivotal reason of the failure was that citizens felt that they were excluded and not informed accurate information properly from the first stage or before the decision made.