What's New - Current and Recent Projects
Limits of Acceptable Change Recreation Planning Pilot Project
The Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) and the
Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts (MTSA) have jointly initiated two
pilot projects in BC to examine the use of a recreation management
approach known as the Limits
of Acceptable Change (LAC) process. I
am one of a team of consultants hired to coordinate all phases of the
project, including the development of training materials and draft LAC
Recreation Plans in collaboration with key stakeholders, including local
communities, First Nations, commercial operators and public kayakers.
See the LAC Project
Website for comprehensive information and publications.
The two project areas are:
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Johnstone
Strait – a coastal area valued for its
spectacular kayaking and whale watching opportunities, and associated
camping.
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Golden
(Windy Creek area) – a land-based area
that is popular for commercial and recreational backcountry skiing.
Trails Strategy for BC
To coordinate a shared and sustainable vision for
managing the province’s trails, and develop a framework for guiding
future decision-making, the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts,
together with the Ministry of Environment (BC Parks), is initiating a
Recreation Trails Strategy for B.C. See the Trails
Strategy website. I am one of a small team of consultants hired
to help the Ministry coordinate the development of the Trails Strategy for
BC. After working closely with the steering committee and
undertaking extensive stakeholder involvement, our team has developed the
Phase I: Background Report (available online) to help determine priorities
and key success factors. Our team is currently involved in Phase II
of the strategy, whereby we are providing support to a Strategy Committee
of key stakeholders in designing the strategy process.
Wise Democracy Victoria
I'm currently the chairperson for a volunteer citizens' committee in the process
of organizing a series of wisdom councils for Victoria, BC. See www.WiseDemocracyVictoria.wetpaint.com.
These councils are comprised of twelve randomly selected individuals who
meet over a period of two days and are facilitated to reach a unanimous
vision for key issues of their own choosing. Through the random
selection process, wisdom councils represent "the voice of the
people" -- the source of legitimacy in a democracy. This
initiative is one response to increasing demand from citizens for a more
active role in shaping the political agenda and government's policy
direction, healthy signs of a robust and evolving democracy.
Ocean Energy in BC
Phase I: Survey of Regulations and Policy
in Key Jurisdictions;
Phase II: Policy Discussion Paper for Tenuring Ocean Energy Projects
The BC Ministry of
Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources intends to develop policy for
ocean power projects on Crown land that is responsive to industry needs
and also meets the need of the province with regard to responsible use of
public resources. Phase II: I helped
developed a Policy Discussion Paper for Tenuring Ocean Energy Projects,
with co-consultant Terje Vold (Dec 2006). Phase I: I was the author
of a survey of
regulations and approval processes for ocean (wave and tidal) power
projects in key jurisdictions world wide (March 2006).
Forest Tree Genetic Resource Management (GRM) Strategy
for BC
The BC Ministry of Forests and Range, Tree
Improvement Branch, is developing a Genetic Resource Management
Strategy. I am on a consulting team lead by R. Keith Jones
& Associates assisting in the development of this strategy using the Challenge
Dialogue System (April - December 2006). See the GRM
Strategy website for documents.
Stewardship Outreach Strategy
The BC Ministry of Environment
is undertaking a Stewardship Outreach Program. I facilitated the
two key project workshops (Nov
2005, Feb 2006) and authored the workshop reports
Environmental Farm Plan Biodiversity Workshop & Report
Environmental
Farm Plan Program -- facilitated the Canada/BC Biodiversity Workshop (Oct 2005)
and authored the workshop report; available on the BC Agriculture Council
website.
Off-Road Vehicle Recommendations to BC Government
Off-Road Vehicle Coalition
-- facilitated the Workshop (September 2005) and developed key
recommendations to government with co-consultant T. Vold & Assoc.
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Who We Are
We're dedicated to developing and implementing innovative and practical solutions to
making real progress and resolving
contentious problems. Our aim is to provide a variety of resources and
skills to help improve collaborative planning, practices, and policy
analysis. We
offer leading edge research and dynamic facilitation skills to help you:
- Identify better solutions to resolving issues and
seemingly intractable problems;
- Create choices where there don't appear to be any; and,
- Compare and evaluate alternatives.
Executive Director
George Sranko,
MA (Hons) Professional Ethics and Governance (Griffith University, Qld),
B.Sc. (UBC), RPBio (BC)
phone 250-598-0124 cell 250-884-8667
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Associate, Center for Wise Democracy
www.wisedemocracy.org
Contact us for:
Consultation and facilitation in collaborative policy, planning, and
communications with particular emphasis on finding breakthrough solutions
to intractable problems.
Harness our understanding of the roles of principles, values
and ethics in conflict situations.
If ethics is like a conversation, morals represent the different
voices in the conversation.
George is involved in bringing Wise Democracy to Victoria; see www.WiseDemocracyVictoria.com
Important Links:
Collaboration: A Guide for Environmental Advocates
Collaborative
Community-based Toolbox
Dynamic Facilitation (Jim Rough)
Co-Intelligence Institute (Tom Atlee)
Center for Wise Democracy
National Coalition for Dialogue and
Deliberation -- fostering a world of conversation, participation
and action
Weil Program on
Collaborative Governance, Harvard University
Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and
Governance, Griffith University
Deliberative
Democracy.net
Best Practices for Government Agencies: Guidelines for Using Collaborative Agreement-Seeking Processes
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Collaborative processes are replacing old "command-
and-control" styles of decision-making
In
a collaborative
approach, negotiation replaces competitive
decision-making.
The new role for public agencies and officials is that of "network
management."
See
Collaborative Policy Change
and
Best Practices for Government Agencies: Guidelines for Using Collaborative Agreement-Seeking Processes
Strategic visioning can unleash the collective
intelligence available within your organization, but only if a truly
collaborative approach is chosen. Too many such processes are simply
"empty" façades, meant to placate rather than
involve.
An authentic collaborative approach can deliver
breakthroughs in creativity that can completely change the landscape... in
terms of organizational culture and choices... opening the entire
organization to new possibilities that would simply not be available
otherwise.
Learn more
about collaborative facilitation.
Is your organization facing difficult issues or
conflicts?
How
can you implement collaborative approaches in value-driven conflicts?
What
is collaborative governance? In our view, collaborative
governance is the availability of institutions that promote interaction
among governmental and non-governmental actors, without state actors monopolizing
problem definition, goal-setting, or methods of
implementation.
Is
there an effective way of generalizing the dynamics of policy change in
relation to collaborative governance?
Collaborative
governance is one expression of the robust emergence of democratic
innovations, including deliberative democracy, in the modern era.
Within this context, the unfolding role of civil society promises to exert
a strong influence on the continuing redefinition of liberal democracy.
For example, in contentious land use exercises, societal actors are
playing increasingly prominent roles in facilitating the renegotiation of
resource regimes and assisting with the development of integrated
solutions for economic and ecological sustainability.
Long-term
solutions to intractable conflicts are elusive, particularly in
value-driven disputes. Successful renegotiation of resource regimes
relies on the parties involved designing their own solutions including the
development of appropriate policy goals. For this to occur, state
actors must yield significant control to collaborative participants where
appropriate and must be prepared to implement innovative solutions that
could entail institutional redesign or transformation.
A
better understanding of collaborative approaches is critical for at least two
reasons:
-
first,
the role of public participation in modern governance is highly
contentious; and
-
second,
there are unresolved questions about such collaborative processes and
outcomes being replicable in a variety of contexts.
There
are no easy solutions to the quandaries faced by governments with respect
to maintaining the legitimacy of a representative democracy while
maximizing the benefits of participatory governance, especially given the
dangers of powerful players hijacking the public interest.
Nevertheless, in hindsight it becomes apparent that even innovative
land-use planning initiatives often prove inadequate for integrating recently
legitimated values. This is largely because politicians and
policy-makers often attempt to contain decision-making negotiations within
the confines of established policy frameworks and top-down policy goals,
in spite of paradigm shifts that may be underway. In value-driven
conflicts, policy goals are often at the heart of contention and
state-imposed solutions at the technical, instrument level simply will not
suffice.
Collaborative
governance represents a positive response to the inadequacy of corporatist
and pluralist systems in implementing sustainability goals.
Collaborative governance is not a likely option where the incentive
structure precludes involvement by powerful actors determined to maintain
the status quo. However, in those situations where the incentive
structures shift significantly, in response to cognitive or non-cognitive
influences, collaboration between long-standing adversaries becomes a
viable, if not preferred, alternative.
Our
research has shown that by
forming collaborative coalitions, one-time adversaries can gain
the capacity to develop creative, integrative solutions ....
to penetrate and expand the boundaries of “accepted” policy
discourse.
Where
empowered by public consent, such coalitions can play a huge role in
making real progress, for example by improving society’s
response to long-term sustainability challenges.
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