Reasons for Increased Demand for Participation in EDM.
Participation emerged as a reaction to passiveness and from an increasing awareness of the fragility of the biosphere in which we all live, coupled with a growing desire to get involved in its protection. (Anonymous Thesis).
Recently, there has been an increased public participation in EDM. Reasons for this is that people are unsatisfied as consumers, they want to be participants and they are experiencing increased alienation which leads to a struggle for power. People generally resist change, especially when they do not understand or agree with the goals, the methods, the sponsor or the timing of the proposed change. So, keeping the public in the dark often leads to disaster. Also the general public is getting more knowledgeable and thus demanding more involvement in his environment. (Anonymous Thesis) (Octeau, C., 1999) .
Specific examples give more explicit reasons for increased public participation of local communities in EDM. For example, protected areas are not islands but part of a larger regional context and threats to protected areas are to a large extent, human-caused and are linked to the surrounding communities. Therefore, the responsibility expands beyond park boundaries. Also the future of protected areas depends on public support and the cooperation of local communities. Therefore, high levels of public participation are needed in protected areas planning and management. (Nelson, N. and Wright, S., 1995)(Octeau, C., 1999) Another example is farmer participation in the process of design, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating research, considered to be one of the key elements which need to be incorporated into a new approach to research on organic systems. (Nelson, N. and Wright, S., 1995)(Powell et al.).
History of Change.
What better describes the change in our time than this phrase: it is "different in its combination of scale, speed, global scope, and unpredictability.
