Involvement, Engagement and Agency:

1. Citizen Involvement, Engagement and Agency: Clayoquot Sound Inter-jurisdictional experience in environmental governance University of Victoria, Feb 14, 2000 Rod Dobell (University of Victoria) and Ross Macmillan (CSBR Transition Cttee) with Krista Iverson (University of Victoria) and Justin Longo (University of British Columbia) Reference: Magnusson-Shaw Clayoquot Project (www.cous.uvic.ca/clayoquot)

2. The Ecological Frame 25/11/1999 Dobell/Longo/Foucher

3. Formal Non-Government Organizations Formal Economy Formal Polity Networks Market State Civil Society Space between state, networks and markets Margins of human impact Interaction of large-scale social system with ‘limits’ of ecosystem Human Subsystem Ecosystem Ecoframe: Emergence of Formal System 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

4. Intention, Interpretation, Action • Citizen Involvement • In governance (policy formation and mandate development--“System”) • Citizen Engagement • In realization--policy implementation and delivery; assessment and evaluation of consequences--(“Lifeworld”) • Citizen Agency • In both system lifeworld private life

5. What do we mean, “Engage?” • Take part in or be occupied by • Attract and hold a person’s attention • Enter into combat with an enemy • Betroth by a promise of marriage • Book or secure for one’s own use • Bind by legal or moral obligation system lifeworld private life

6. Thus, what is “engagement”? • Encounter between hostile forces • A betrothal • A moral commitment or obligation • The progress from first to last is the story of Clayoquot Sound in recent decades system lifeworld private life

7. Covenant Collective commitment (INTENT) Process of Refinement of Commitment (articulating intent) Process of Policy formation Consensus Coalition-building Convention PolicyCommunitydeliberations Protocol/ Regulations Consent Mandate for Action (TEXT) Concerns (AGENDA) Correction Enforcement, court Contracts/ Commissions Process of Assessment of outcome, Degree of compliance; Evaluation Process of Delivery; Realization; Fulfillment Consequences Coordination Compliance (ACTS) Commitment-Compliance Cycle 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

8. An Interim Conclusion: We Must Distinguish … • Citizen involvement in policy formulation FROM • Citizen engagement in policy delivery. THUS • Citizen agency means … • Capacity to participate effectively in (abstract) governance, AND • Discretion in achieving (concrete) compliance. text and act

9. Covenant Collective commitment (INTENT) Collective Intention to pursue cooperative social interest Consensus Coalition-building Convention PolicyCommunitydeliberations Protocol/ Regulations “Cooperator’s Dilemma” Consent Mandate for Action (TEXT) Concerns (AGENDA) Correction Enforcement, court Contracts/ Commissions Consequences Coordination Compliance (ACTS) Individual decision reflecting incentive to pursue immediate self-interest (to defect) The Co-operator's Dilemma 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

10. Legitimacy, Trust and Social Capital Reconciliation of the cooperative social optimum with individual self interest rests on: • The perceived legitimacy of the process of formulating collective intentions • Trust in the willingness of others to act according to the same rules or in other words … • An adequate stock of social capital. tension and linkage

11. Covenant Collective commitment (INTENT) The meaning of “the work” Consensus Coalition-building Convention PolicyCommunitydeliberations Protocol/ Regulations “Performer’s Dilemma” Consent Mandate for Action (TEXT) Concerns (AGENDA) Correction Enforcement, court Contracts/ Commissions Consequences Coordination Compliance (ACTS) The impact on the audience The Performer’s Dilemma 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

12. Shared Values, Community Context and Social Learning Scrutiny of compliance must consider: • The intent of the work in the context when formulated • The impact of the interpretation in the context when realized or in other words… • Realization rests on both an adequate foundation of shared values and a community context 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

13. Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

14. Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve • Scene of long-standing conflicts over resource use • “Scientific Panel” report and “Interim Measures Agreement” provide basis for future consensus • UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Status the culmination of local consensus and community engagement • Stable and viable processes held together by strong social capital building social capital

15. Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve • Interim Measures Agreement (Nuu-chah-nulth and BC--1994) • created Central Region Board, 1994 • Interim Measures Extension Agreement in effect till Spring 2000 • New marine resource management body (RAMS, West Coast Society) under discussion • Integrated marine-terrestrial planning (CZM) building social capital

16. Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve • Scientific Panel convened in aftermath of Cabinet land-use plan • Macmillan-Bloedel Coastal Forest Project • Iisaak Forest Resources (IFR) joint venture forest products company (Nuu-chah-nulth/Weyerhaeuser) • ENGO-IFR MOU • Clayoquot Biosphere Trust building social capital

17. Social Learning • revised perceptions of the status quo (baseline); • reassessment of alternative strategies; • revised beliefs and values; • reassessment of agency relationships 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

18. Citizen Agency Through Social Coordination Lifeworld Citizen Beliefs, Preferences Covenant INTENT System Implementation Concerns AGENDA Consent TEXT Delivery Evaluation Citizen Acts, Compliance ACT

19. BELIEFS INTENT ACTION Citizen Agency Through Social Coordination: Action (beliefs driving action to alter--or preserve--the world) 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

20. BELIEFS REASSESS-MENT ACTION In the Ecosystem Citizen Agency Through Social Coordination: Recognition (reflection on experience of the changing world to alter beliefs) 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

21. UNESCO designation Midnight Noon Nomination 11 PM 1 PM Policy Community Deliberations 10 PM 2 PM Realizing Intention Forming Intention CBT? 3 PM 9 PM Concern Agenda 8 PM 4 PM CRB? Enforcement (Scrutiny) 7 PM 5 PM 6 PM Consequences (Monitoring) IFR, RAMS... ACTION: Corporate practices change, household behavior changes Conflict to Commitment 06/02/2000 Dobell/Iverson

22. Lessons, Questions and Learning • This story begins with local players--Sulphur Passage, Meares Island…(Nuu-chah-nulth, Friends of Clayoquot Sound…). • INGOs and other global interests pick up later • Resistance from established industrial interests until the need to find alternatives is inescapable • Not yet clear that all are pursuing same ideas, goals addressing the individual

23. Optimistic signals • Clayoquot experience inspires MacBlo Coastal Forest Project, now seen as leading the industry. • Clayoquot experience and Coastal Forest Project offer model for mid-coast region (Great Bear Rainforest) • Clayoqout interests have come together around effective community-based mgt using the Central Region Board--increasing social cohesion? addressing the individual

24. Pessimistic signs--dominant institutions reasserting power? • Will Iisaak find operational and commercial realities overwhelm commitment to Scientific Panel? • Forest Stewardship Council and other certification processes co-opted (KPMG International and all)? • Province resisting power-sharing--recentralizing power in classic fashion by removing decision capacity of CRB as price of 5-yr extension of IMA? addressing the individual

25. Conclusions: Knowledge into Collective Intention Into Action • Decision support systems leading to agreement at the abstract / global level miss the co-operator’s dilemma • Deliberation and visioning to support the formulation of collective intent build legitimacy and thus promote ‘resocialization’ by confronting the co-operator’s dilemma. • Shaping common goals through community engagement builds social capital promoting compliance. addressing the individual

26. “Community Axis”: ACTION • On the ground, in a range of interpretive communities, there is the task of interpreting the text so as to shape action. • We study the translation of action into consequence, observing change in the state of the system. • Ultimately, we assess the change in the state of the system against the intentions expressed in the text.

27. Governing institutions • Within tiered systems, formal institutions and processes of governance lead to negotiation of agreement around expressed covenants and agreed intentions. • Processes of rule-making lead to creation of texts or mandates attempting to capture shared intentions.

28. Academic axis • Within processes of research and theoretical development, the evolution and negotiation of beliefs and understandings leads to a changing intellectual and social context. • Within that context, concerns giving rise to a felt need for collective action are articulated against a backdrop of preferences as to desired change in system states.

29. Dynamics of social action • Thus, overall, we see ongoing processes of social learning driving the negotiation of values and beliefs, with context hardening into concern. • Through formal and informal institutions, we see covenants as to collective action emerge as explicit texts, crystallizing as policies or mandates. • Within communities, texts are interpreted so as to drive individual action to realize collective intentions, and change the world. Interpretations are evaluated against consequences, or in context.