Impressions of Tracks 7c (Advocacy & Public Participation) [former name and number of related track] and 7e (Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development)

It was a premier. Both tracks were held the first time together, mixed within two consecutive sessions. Presenters came from North and Latin American as well as from European and Asian universities. The range of “home departments” was wide. This reflected the horizontal relevance of the two track topics.  Nine presentations provided a multifaceted picture with numerous “scientific cross-fertilizations”. The auditorium was even broader in the geographic range and included also people beyond academia. Its lively discussion contributions highlighted interconnections and complementarities.

Finally, some future research issues commonly identified in the “track arena” were reported back to the conference chairs:

• Stronger focus on education and culture: how education can shape culture to behave in a climate friendly way?
• Comparative assessment beyond continents in terms of different instruments (rule-focused, economic-incentive focused, information-focused) the extent of opportunities for public participation
• that are available to different subnational stakeholders.
• Research on importance of giving stakeholders the right to the “right” information on the background of fake information and the kind of “right” information including in particular on the definition of alternatives
• Research on potential and effective long term effects of upcoming and existing projects which tend to be overlooked or underestimated by decision makers
• Comparative research across and within continents on Public Participation in terms of access to information, administrative procedures and justice in Strategic Environmental Assessments on the plan and program level
• Comparative research across and within continents on the effectiveness of Public Participation in terms of access to information, administrative procedures and justice."