1. Testing of innovative Public Participation methods in water management
Margit Säre
Peipsi CTC

2. Today’s Situation
Among water managers as well as NGOs there is not enough knowledge about diverse approaches to PP, what are the different methods and channels to involve various stakeholder groups
Innovative PP methods are needed, to secure that concerns of local people are incorporated in WM plans
Regional coverage :Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland
Objective
GWP CEE region Public Participation Task Force leaders is working to contribute to increased public participation in river basin management planning in the Baltic Sea Catchment area through various information dissemination and networking activities.
Tasks:
1)      Make an overview of the progress of existing (sub) basin planning projects and overview about the preparations for public consultations on national and sub basin levels
2)      Collect existing training materials for public participation and consultation event organisers
3)      Make a list of good “Case Studies” on the various Public Participation and information initiatives. Dissemination of this information with other GWP CEE countries and at international level
4)      To link homepages containing info on public participation practices in water management to national GWP homepage and to the GWP CEE homepage.
5)      To organize and attend local level public information events
6)      To organise a meeting of GWP CEE Baltic Sea region representatives for information and experience exchange
7)      Common overview report describing present status and good examples on public participation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland
Time schedule :
Mis printsiipe, tehnikaid silmas peetakse
January-June 2004:
Collection of materials on national public participation issues to the RiverDialogue home page (please see
Linking public participation related homepages to national GWP and GWP CEE homepage.
February-December 2004
list on public participation and water management issues: adding new addresses for the list and disseminating regular information for subscribers
March-July 2004
Collecting a list of “Case Studies” on the various Public Participation and information initiatives, dissemination of this information though web page and though various national and international events
April-November 2004
Collect existing materials on public participation theory and training materials/guidelines of organizers of those event organizers. Materials will be available on web site (
27-28 March; Bratislava, Slovakia
Presentation on Public Participation Task Force working program at GWP CEE council meeting
1-2 and April; May
Seminars on Lake Peipsi Water Management Plan for local governments; in cooperation with LIFE project
Kuidas, miks, …
June
County level public consultations in Ida-Viru and Lääne-Viru counties, Estonia; in cooperation with Estonian Water Association
19-21 September Tartu county; Estonia
Seminar on public participation in river basin management in Baltic countries and Poland (together with Baltic Rivers Network)
November-December 2004
Write national level reports by Estonia, Latvia. Lithuania and Poland, describing present status and good examples of PP
Write a common overview report for Baltic Sea basin.
Presentations in international conferences:
24-26 March; Venice, Italy
Margit Säre will make a presentation on transboundary water management and public participation methods in Estonia; at the conference: “Integrated water management of Transboundary catchments.
25-29 May; Ohrid, Macedonia
Margit Säre will make a presentation on public participation in transboudnary water management; at the conference: “Water Observation and Information System for Decision Support”
14-17 June; Tartu, Estonia
International conference: “Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in the Baltic Sea Basin: water management plans at catchment scale and public participation”

3. Peipsi CTC ( different innovative public participation methods, to bring the voice of local stakeholders to the respective governments - Group interviews - Focus groups - Citizens´ juries

4. EU 5th Framework program funded:
Empowerment and Awareness Building in River Basin Management Through Focus Groups and Citizens Juries - River Dialogue

5. Emajõgi River
Lake Peipsi

6. determining issues of concern on regional scale
FOCUS GROUP
determining issues of concern on regional scale
A focus group is a planned discussion among a small group of people on a specific topic. Peipsi CTC conducted 9 focus groups on water management issues with major stakeholder groups in Emajõgi river basin Focus groups proved to be an effective approach that could be used on the water management planning stage to collect opinions of stakeholders about major issues in a river basin

7. CITIZENS’ JURIES – public input in to developing
CITIZENS’ JURIES – public input in to developing solutions of water management problems
Citizen´s jury is a randomly selected panel of people who meet for 2-5 days for a careful examination of an issue of public significance in the locality. A group (12-16 people) hear evidence, question witnesses from different sectors, discuss the issue and then make an informed judgment (reccommendations). This PP method promotes political dialogue aimed at mutual understanding, which does not mean that people will agree, but rather that they try to resolve conflicts by discussion

8. Citizen juries have been used on:
The idea behind Citizen Juries is that given enough time and information, ordinary people can make decisions about complex policy issues
Citizen juries have been used on:
environmental issues (storage of nuclear wastes);
budget priorities;
- health care reform;
Education policy etc.

9. Citizens´ Jury“Water transport on River Emajõgi
Citizens´ Jury“Water transport on River Emajõgi. What would be the compromise between the interests of local inhabitants environmentalists and entrepreneurs?” - Random selection of participants – 700 invitations were sent
Presentations of witnesses from different sectors: river port, nature reserve, NGO, engineer, businessman
At the end of the day Jury compiled their recommendations
Report was sent to respective organisations dealing with River Emajõgi WM issues

10. Citizens’Jury proved that also ordinary people are able to discuss complex environmental management issues after presentation and possibility for give questions Next stage: transboundary citizen jury. However, here are problems in connection with high expenses of visa and travel; working language.

11. GWP PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Task Force
…is working to contribute to increased public involvement in RBMP through various info dissemination and net-
working activities
Regional coverage :Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland
Objective
GWP CEE region Public Participation Task Force leaders is working to contribute to increased public participation in river basin management planning in the Baltic Sea Catchment area through various information dissemination and networking activities.
Tasks:
1)      Make an overview of the progress of existing (sub) basin planning projects and overview about the preparations for public consultations on national and sub basin levels
2)      Collect existing training materials for public participation and consultation event organisers
3)      Make a list of good “Case Studies” on the various Public Participation and information initiatives. Dissemination of this information with other GWP CEE countries and at international level
4)      To link homepages containing info on public participation practices in water management to national GWP homepage and to the GWP CEE homepage.
5)      To organize and attend local level public information events
6)      To organise a meeting of GWP CEE Baltic Sea region representatives for information and experience exchange
7)      Common overview report describing present status and good examples on public participation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland
Time schedule :
Mis printsiipe, tehnikaid silmas peetakse
January-June 2004:
Collection of materials on national public participation issues to the RiverDialogue home page (please see
Linking public participation related homepages to national GWP and GWP CEE homepage.
February-December 2004
list on public participation and water management issues: adding new addresses for the list and disseminating regular information for subscribers
March-July 2004
Collecting a list of “Case Studies” on the various Public Participation and information initiatives, dissemination of this information though web page and though various national and international events
April-November 2004
Collect existing materials on public participation theory and training materials/guidelines of organizers of those event organizers. Materials will be available on web site (
27-28 March; Bratislava, Slovakia
Presentation on Public Participation Task Force working program at GWP CEE council meeting
1-2 and April; May
Seminars on Lake Peipsi Water Management Plan for local governments; in cooperation with LIFE project
Kuidas, miks, …
June
County level public consultations in Ida-Viru and Lääne-Viru counties, Estonia; in cooperation with Estonian Water Association
19-21 September Tartu county; Estonia
Seminar on public participation in river basin management in Baltic countries and Poland (together with Baltic Rivers Network)
November-December 2004
Write national level reports by Estonia, Latvia. Lithuania and Poland, describing present status and good examples of PP
Write a common overview report for Baltic Sea basin.
Presentations in international conferences:
24-26 March; Venice, Italy
Margit Säre will make a presentation on transboundary water management and public participation methods in Estonia; at the conference: “Integrated water management of Transboundary catchments.
25-29 May; Ohrid, Macedonia
Margit Säre will make a presentation on public participation in transboudnary water management; at the conference: “Water Observation and Information System for Decision Support”
14-17 June; Tartu, Estonia
International conference: “Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in the Baltic Sea Basin: water management plans at catchment scale and public participation”

12. TASK 4
Report on PP in Baltic countries and Poland was prepared in cooperation with Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish contact points in Dec. 2004

13. GWP Public Participation Task Force www. riverdialogue
GWP Public Participation Task Force