78 Policy makers are from Saturn,... Citizens are from Uranus… Involving citizens in environmental governance in the Drentsche Aa area S. van Bommel E. Turnhout M.N.C. Aarts F.G. Boonstra r a p p o r t e n WettelijkeWOt Onderzoekstaken Natuur & Milieu WettelijkeWOt Onderzoekstaken Natuur & Milieu Policy makers are from Saturn, ....... Citizens are from Uranus….... This report was produced in accordance with the Quality Manual of the Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature & the Environment. The ‘WOt Reports’ series presents the findings of research projects implemented for the Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature & the Environment by various centres of expertise. WOT-rapport 78 is the result of a research project carried out by Wageningen UR under the authority of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature and the Environment. This report contributes to the knowledge of policy aiming publications such as the Nature Balance Report and Thematic Assessments. Policy makers are from Saturn,..Citizens are from Uranus…. Involving citizens in environmental governance in the Drentsche Aa area S. van Bommel E. Turnhout M.N.C. Aarts F.G. Boonstra Rapport 78 Wettelijke Onderzoekstaken Natuur & Milieu Wageningen, Augustus 2008 Abstract Van Bommel, S, E. Turnhout, M.N.C. Aarts & F.G. Boonstra, 2008. Policy makers are from Saturn,..Citizens are from Uranus…. Involving citizens in environmental governance in the Drentsche Aa area. Wageningen, Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature and the Environment. WOt Report No. 78. 76 pp. 3 Figs.; 2 Tables; 104 Refs. This study investigated, theoretically as well as empirically, the relationship between public support for nature conservation policy – in the sense of citizen involvement – and governance in Dutch nature policy practices. It involved an in-depth case study of the relation between citizen involvement and governance in nature conservation policy in the Drentsche Aa area. We analysed the functioning of two multi-actor platforms as well as the link between the citizens’ representatives on these regional platforms and their local-level constituencies. The analysis showed that the governance initiatives that aimed at the inclusion of different actors led to the enactment of various, invited as well as uninvited, forms of citizenship, such as ‘passive citizenship’, ‘stakeholder citizenship’, ‘assimilated citizenship’, ‘antagonistic citizenship’ and ‘creative citizenship’. Key words: multi-stakeholder platforms, multi-actor governance, governance, citizens, citizenship, participation, interactive policy making, Drentsche Aa, Drentse Aa Referaat Bommel, S. van, E. Turnhout, M.N.C Aarts & F.G.. Boonstra, 2008. Beleidsmakers komen van Saturnus.....Burgers komen van Uranus. Betrokkenheid van burgers en governance in het natuurbeleid in het gebied van de Drentsche Aa. Wageningen. Wettelijke Onderzoekstaken Natuur & Milieu, WOt-rapport 78. 76 blz. 3 fig.; 2 tab.;104 ref. Dit onderzoek richt zich zowel conceptueel als empirisch op de relatie tussen draagvlak voor natuur, in de zin van betrokkenheid van burgers, en governance in het Nederlandse natuurbeleid. Er is een diepgaande case study uitgevoerd in het gebied van de Drentsche Aa. Gekeken is naar het functioneren van twee multi-actor platforms en naar de samenhang tussen de vertegenwoordigers op deze platforms en hun achterban op lokaal niveau. Hieruit bleek dat governance initiatieven die zich richten op het betrekken van verschillende actoren leiden tot verschillende intentionele en niet-intentionele vormen van burgers en burgerschap, zoals ‘passieve burgers’, ‘vertegenwoordigers’, ‘geassimileerde burgers’, ‘antagonistische burgers’ en ‘creatieve burgers’. Trefwoorden: multi-stakeholder platforms, multi-actor governance, governance, burgers, burgerschap, participatie, betrokkenheid, interactieve beleidsvorming, Drentsche Aa, Drentse Aa ISSN 1871-028X ©2008 Leerstoelgroep Bos en Natuurbeleid Wageningen Universiteit Postbus 47, 6700 AA Wageningen Tel:(0317)478004 ; fax:(0317)478005 ; e-mail: [email protected] Leerstoelgroep Communicatie Strategieen Wageningen Univerisiteit Postbus 9101, 6700 HB Wageningen Tel : (0317) 477477 ; fax : (0317) 484884 ; e-mail : [email protected] Alterra Postbus 47, 6700 AA Wageningen. Tel: (0317) 47 47 00; fax: (0317) 41 90 00; e-mail: [email protected] The WOt Reports series is published by the Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature and the Environment, which is part of Wageningen University & Research Centre. This report can also be obtained from the Unit’s secretarial office. The report can also be downloaded from www.wotnatuurenmilieu.wur.nl. Statutory Research Tasks Unit for Nature & the Environment, P.O. Box 47, NL-6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands Phone: +31 317 48 54 71; Fax: +31 317 41 90 00; e-mail: [email protected]; Internet: www.wotnatuurenmilieu.wur.nl All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced and/or republished by printing, photocopying, microfilm or any other means without the publisher’s prior permission in writing. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any damage ensuing from the use of the results of this study or from the implementation of the recommendations contained in this report. 4 WOt-rapport 78 F-0010 [2007] Project KB-01-005- 5233145-01 [Rapport 78 − augustus 2008] Preface Dutch nature conservation policy aims to increase public support for, and involve citizens in, the protection and management of natural areas. This ambition fits in with what is regarded in the academic literature as trends in governance. The question is, however, what happens when these ambitions are put into practice? This question has guided the research that is documented in this report. In this report we used the Drentsche Aa area in the Netherlands as a case study because this area was the subject of some formal attempts to involve citizens in nature conservation policy. We were interested to find out what forms of citizen involvement were achieved as a result of these multi- stakeholder and participatory initiatives. This research project was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality in the so-called Kennisbasis research programme of Wageningen University and Research Centre. More specifically, it was funded by the WOT part of Theme 1, programme No. 5 ‘Linking sustainable development to organisation and decision making (governance)’. The research was carried out between May 2006 and September 2007. We would like to thank several people for their valuable contributions to this report: Birgit Elands for her constructive criticisms and comments and Cees van Woerkom for reviewing and evaluating the quality of the report. Finally, we wish to extend our thanks to the citizens of the Drentsche Aa area for contributing to the research through the interviews. Severine van Bommel, Esther Turnhout, Noelle Aarts and Froukje Boonstra Wageningen, August 2008 Contents Preface 5 Summary 9 Samenvatting 11 1 Introduction 13 1.1 Problem statement 13 1.2 Theoretical framework 14 1.2.1 Governance 14 1.2.2 Public support and citizen involvement 16 1.2.3 Construction of ‘the citizen’ 17 1.3 Approach 19 1.3.1 Operationalisation of the main concepts 19 1.3.2 Research questions 20 1.3.3 Interpretative approach 20 1.3.4 Case study design 20 1.3.5 Data collection 21 1.3.6 Analysis 22 1.3.7 Outline of the report 23 2 Context – a historical overview of the Drentsche Aa case 25 2.1 Description of the area 25 2.2 Policy history 27 2.2.1 A top-down National Park? 27 2.2.2 ROM project and WCL project 27 2.2.3 A top-down National Park? No! 28 3 Representatives’ involvement in the BIO Plan for the Drentsche Aa area 31 3.1 The Regional Advisory Committee 31 3.2 Developing the advice 32 3.3 The final advice 32 3.4 The Preparatory Committee 37 3.5 Developing the BIO Plan 38 3.6 The BIO Plan 39 3.7 Conclusion 43 4 Involvement of constituencies in the Drentsche Aa area 45 4.1 Formulation of the BIO Plan 45 4.1.1 Information meetings 45 4.1.2 Leaving responsibility to others 46 4.1.3 Lack of identification with the National Landscape 46 4.1.4 Disillusioned by participation 48 4.1.5 Active non-participation 50 4.1.6 Actively opposing nature policy plans 50 4.2 Implementation of the BIO Plan 51 4.2.1 Invited and uninvited involvement 51 4.2.2 Local enterpreneurship 51 4.2.3 The Village Landscape Plans 52 4.2.4 The Amerdiep project 53 4.3 Conclusion 55 5 The construction of citizenship in the Drentsche Aa area 57 5.1 The passive citizen 57 5.1.1 The voting citizen 57 5.1.2 The indifferent citizen 57 5.2 The stakeholder citizen 58 5.3 The assimilated citizen 58 5.4 The antagonistic citizen 59 5.5 The disillusioned citizen 59 5.6 The entrenched citizen 59 5.7 The creative citizen 60 6 Discussion and Conclusions 61 6.1 Main findings and conclusions: citizen involvement in environmental governance 61 6.2 General discussion: understanding governance and citizen involvement 63 Literature cited 67 8 WOt-rapport 78 Summary This study investigated, theoretically as well as empirically, the relationship between public support for nature conservation policy – in the sense of citizen involvement – and governance in Dutch nature policy practices. The central research question was: how can we understand governance initiatives aimed at the involvement of multiple actors in policy processes and how do these initiatives work out in practice, in terms of achieving actual involvement? We answered the research question by means of an in-depth case study of the relation between citizen involvement and governance in Dutch nature conservation policy in the Drentsche Aa area. This area is characterised by great pluriformity in terms of functions and landscapes. This is why a large variety of actors have always had a stake in nature and landscape policy in this area. And since citizen involvement over the last 15 years is considered to have been successful, the Drentsche Aa area represents a case in which the aim to build governance is taking shape, at least formally.