From consultation to participation

While legislations and the accompanying legal framework are no doubt very necessary to guarantee, safeguard and ensure the success of public participation, they prove grossly inadequate in dealing with the various peculiarities that crop up steadily in the real word. It is therefore right to say that Public participation is not only in informing the public or taking their view into account in the field of coastal management. It also goes beyond making laws and meeting statutory obligation. Indeed those are considered just the foundations that guarantee success. In practice however, a wide range of techniques abound.

In this section we take a look at some mechanism that are not expressly covered by law but which are nonetheless used to great degree by the coastal mangers in The Netherlands to bring about public participation. It has to be clarified that a clear line does not exist between policies and strategies. The subdivision is here used for the convenience of the researcher and for the benefit of the policy planners in CEE and NIS who may want to use the work as a guide in their quest for improvement.