Public hearings in environmental and social impact assessment for energy sector projects in Cameroon

Abstract

In Cameroon, like in other countries, public hearings are the most common method of citizen involvement mentioned in Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). To elicit various attributes of current practice and characteristics of these public hearings in Cameroon, with focus on access, process and outcomes, we used an interpretive approach. This research unveiled an array of problems, including shortcomings in public hearing practice, law and regulatory framework, limited access to information, and inconvenient location of reading rooms (depositories). Public hearings do take place in depositories but they do not provide participants with the opportunity for direct debate and consensus-building. This research demonstrated that, local economic stakes tend to take precedence over critical questioning during public hearing events. However, public hearings in Cameroon attest to the growing willingness to challenge ESIA reports that may be fully backed by the government. In order for public hearings to be worthwhile events in Cameroon, there is need to build credibility and mutual trust among stakeholders.

Using Decision Support System to Enable Crowd Identify Neighborhood Issues and Its Solutions for Policy Makers: An Online Experiment at Kabul Municipal Level

“…With support of AI technology, this method allows citizens to influence the topics that are included in urban planning agendas [93] to introduce a new form of community building for municipalities [96] and build social capital [97]. AI-enabled online forums increase all four elements [3], two factors [20,21] and the four principles [4] of citizen engagement mentioned above in the introduction part and provide a bridge between municipalities and citizens to build sustainable cities with the power of crowd insights [95,98]. Using this methodology, crowd might be collectively engaged to work collaboratively in order to offer innovative solutions based on collective agreements, which might improve cities in line with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (SDG-11~13).…”

“…However, due to time, space, and gender restraints [18] as well as security issues [19], most people cannot participate in consultation and planning processes, and implementing bottom-up participation theories is difficult, especially in war-ravaged countries like Afghanistan. For example, challenges remain: achieving four critical civic engagement elements [3] mentioned before; two public participation factors: (1) each citizen must have access to information related to the planning process and activities, and (2) decisions concerning urban issues must be made after a consensus between a city and its citizens [20,21]; these four principles of participation must be ensured: (1) inclusivity, (2) transparency, (3) interactivity, and (4) continuity [22].…”