Assessing the experiences of Sliema residents and environmental non-governmental organizations of public participation processes in development projects in Sliema

Abstract

Public participation processes provide an opportunity for stakeholders to voice their interests, concerns, opinions and suggestions, particularly in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). Public participation processes may thus be evaluated in terms of effectiveness in the process whereby two aspects of the process may be gauged, namely, process-based criteria and outcome-based criteria. While the former gauges process effectiveness in terms of the process itself, the latter assesses the outcome success of the process. This study aims to assess the experiences of Sliema residents and those of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGOs) of public participation processes in EIAs in development projects in Sliema. In so doing, registered voters residents in Sliema were surveyed and local ENGOs were interviewed. The research highlights that the public participation process in Malta is a work in progress and that different aspects of the participatory process are still yet to be developed if the process is to be effective whilst following some of the general principles outlined in the literature relating to best practice participatory processes. This calls for a shift in mentality from viewing such participatory processes as a legal prerequisite to one which advocates the process on the basis of collaborative learning and dispute administration in order to plan and develop sustainably.