Citizens for the environment: Education as a tool for effective public participation and decision-making
The COVID-19 outbreak that struck the global community made it clear that the planet’s health is strictly interwoven with humans’ health. The effective protection of the environment, which is an issue of vital importance for citizens’ wellbeing, lies on environmental democracy. The latter presupposes and promotes citizens’ active participation in public matters. In particular, it provides for citizens’ access to environmental information, participation to decision-making & access to justice in environmental matters.
In Greece, serious obstacles are reported on the effective exercise of these rights. Citizens are unaware either of their rights, or of how to effectively exercise them. The disperse processes of public participation, the usually short deadlines provided & the technical character of environmental matters, make it difficult for citizens to search, be informed & participate in a sufficiently documented manner.
The project aims at reinforcing the participation of local environmental organizations/groups & active citizens in decision-making in environmental matters, through providing a wide & user-friendly toolkit for public participation. The project will shed light on the rights & the available processes of public participation through a series of virtual and physical labs. Moreover, the tools that will be created will enable citizens to participate in a documented and more efficient way.
In the meantime, an open public consultation will enable civil society groups to jointly draft a policy proposal for the substantive improvement of the public participation processes. An endorsement of this proposal by the public administration would facilitate citizens’ participation. WWF will undertake the preparation of the project, the content of the tools and labs, communication & the coordination of the project. While GFOSS will undertake the design and development of the online tools. Jointly they will produce the 1st draft and formulate the final policy proposal.
