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Can Participatory Modelling Support Social Learning in Marine Fisheries? Reflections from the Invest in Fish South West Project
Author(s) -
Squires Heather,
Renn Ortwin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
environmental policy and governance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.987
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1756-9338
pISSN - 1756-932X
DOI - 10.1002/eet.588
Subject(s) - deliberation , stakeholder , context (archaeology) , stakeholder engagement , citizen journalism , social learning , process (computing) , politics , sociology , political science , public relations , knowledge management , environmental resource management , economics , computer science , geography , archaeology , law , operating system
Seeking agreement through deliberation and knowledge sharing with the support of analytical models as decision support tools has increasingly been advocated for in science‐intense policy‐making. Until now, there are only few case studies of public participation in natural resource decision‐making in which the interface of scientific modelling and stakeholder deliberation is described or analysed in more detail. The Invest in Fish South West project was designed accordingly. It used bio‐economic modelling to support stakeholder deliberations and consensus building on policy recommendations for European marine fisheries. Based on interviews and our experience as project participants, we examine the model's contribution to social learning. We highlight the importance of clear expectations within participatory assessments – the importance of process features surrounding modelling as well as the broader socio‐political context influencing social learning. Our examination illustrates a tension between a drive for evidence‐based policy‐making and a post‐normal science emphasis on knowledge co‐generation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.