If you work

• as a planner or regional developer
• as a mediator or facilitator of conflict resolution processes
• in an NGO, in the public administration or a company and you are dealing with conflicts about environmental issues and in public planning

and you want to 

• acquire knowledge in cooperative decision-making 
• know more about the different ways of handling conflicts in the public sphere 
• discuss quality standards and good practice in public participation
• learn about successful environmental mediation
• share your own knowledge with others
• meet experts of public planning and environmental issues
• exchange experience
• strengthen cooperation across the borders
• do networking,

you are welcome to the Workshop on Cooperative Decision-making and Conflict Management in Public Planning and Environment.

The Workshop is a follow-up to a research project on Promoting environmental mediation as a tool for public participation and conflict resolution, jointly carried out by OeGUT and REC in 2005. The workshop is also part of the knowledge-transfer project “Future in the
Alps” of the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA). It gives an excellent opportunity to learn about successful mediations and to exchange experience in cooperative decision-making and conflict management. It offers the possibility to create a
network of persons and institutions involved in public participation, environmental conflict management and environmental mediation and to establish links to existing networks, such as CIPRA or the Carpathian Convention. The conference will focus on how to improve
public participation and decision-making processes. It will offer an overview of the benefits, principles and practice of using environmental mediation procedures for conflict resolution and a practical session during which such skills can be developed. Priorities for follow-up-projects and other activities will be defined.

Agenda

1st day

09:00—09:30 Registration of participants

09:30—10.15 Welcome and introduction - workshop goals, expected outcome, introduction of the participants (Kaidi Tingas, REC, Hungary) Address of welcome (Austrian and Finnish Ministries, CIPRA)

10:15—11:00 Alternative Dispute Resolution of Environmental Conflicts – methods, overview of case studies in Austria and Germany and in CEE countries (presentation of results of the joint project) (Martina Handler, ÖGUT; Magdolna Toth Nagy, Stephen Stec, REC)
Short Question & Answer session

11:00—11:20 New forms of decision-making – what forms of cooperative decision-making are the most promising with regard to sustainable development? Best-practice from the Alpine space (Matthias Buchecker, WSL, Switzerland)

11:20—11:50 Coffee break

11:50—12:05 Ombudspersons for the Environment - promoters of public participation in environmental decision-making - the Austrian model (Alfred Brezansky, Advocacy for the Environment Vienna, Austria)

12:05—12:30 Environmental Mediation – history, concept and models, today’s practice and experiences (Ursula König, mediator, Switzerland - requested)

12:30 – 13:00 Conflict resolution and mediation – specific features and conditions in CEEcountries (Marta Struminska, Poland)
Short Question & Answer session

13:00—14:00 Lunch

14.00—18:00 Practice unit: Mediator skills and practices – how to prepare and lead successfully a conflict resolution process in order to find a sustainable solution (Wolfgang Pfefferkorn, CIPRA International; Wolfgang Gerlich, Plansinn, Austria)

Evening Networking event

2nd Day

09:00—09:15 Summary of the last day’s results and introduction to the work groups

09:15—10:45 Work groups: Public participation and conflict management in the fields of

• Protected areas, Natura 2000
• Traffic and transport
• Waste management
• Industry and trade

Presentation and discussion of collected case studies and other projects from the region

10:45—11:15 Coffee break

11:15—13:00 Work groups based on different sectors (NGO’s, administrators, mediators
etc)

13:00—14:00 Lunch

14:00—15:30 World café on future steps: How can public participation and cooperative conflict resolution be successfully implemented?

15:30—16:00 Coffee break

16:00 – 17:00 Conclusions and discussion about the next steps, possibilities and follow-up plans
Evaluation of the meeting

17:00 Closure of the workshop

Speakers

Alfred Brezansky
Vice director of the Advocacy for the Environment Vienna. Working fields: technical environmental protection, administrative procedures in the environmental sphere, public participation, environmental mediation and conflict management.

Matthias Buchecker
Geographer and social scientist, works as a senior scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute WSL and manages projects on social requirements and public participation regarding landscape development, recreation and risk management.

Wolfgang Gerlich
Landscape planner, shareholder of Plansinn, Vienna; focus on urban planning, mediating, event management, the didactics of exhibitions, industrial design, project management, public relations; lecturer at the Vienna University and at the Universities of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Vienna.

Martina Handler
Political scientist and mediator, scientific project manager at the Austrian Society for Technology and the Environment and lecturer on public participation and conflict management at the Technical University of Vienna/MSc Program Renewable Energy.

Wolfgang Pfefferkorn
Landscape planner and mediator, works half time for Rosinak&Partner in Vienna and half time for CIPRA International in Liechtenstein. Working fields: regional development, knowledge transfer, evaluation, conflict management.

Stephen Stec
Lawyer, head of the environmental law program at the REC, adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy at Central European University, experienced in negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution.

Kaidi Tingas
Public participation expert of the Public Participation programme of REC. Manageging projects and building capacities in the area of access to environmental information and public participation in environmental decision-making, environmental communication, and mediation.

Magdolna Toth
Public participation expert, head of the Public Participation Programme of REC; focus on assistance in implementation of the Aarhus Convention, related EU directives including EIA, SEA, IPPC and Water Framework Directive and national legislation in practice, capacity building for public authorities and NGOs at national, regional and local level as well as other stakeholders.

Marta Struminska
Sociologist at the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Warsaw. Her field of work is environmental sociology, and research interests are Corporate Social Responsibility and environmental conflicts between business and civil society.

Registration
Until January 10, 2007 (registration form attached). There is a limited number of participants, those will be considered in the order of their application.
ktingas@rec.org
phone +36 26 504 214, fax +36 26 311 294

Partners:

Austrian Society for Technology and Environment (OeGUT)
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) (Budapest)
Austrian Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.

Languages: english