PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON THE SCOPE OF THE ARTICLE: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL FIELD

This chapter aims at giving an overview of the level of public participation in environmental decision-making in Italy, with particular regard to the procedures concerning major works.

The role of public participation in improving the environmental ‘performance’ of contemporary democracies has been the subject of several studies. When faced with environmental problems traditional democratic institutions and public administrations get into a crisis. Let us think, for instance, of the difficulties in managing the issues relating to the ‘risk society’: complexity, uncertainty, ‘man-made’ risks and changes in the public perception of scientific and technological evolution, nowadays often perceived - rightly or wrongly - as a threat to environment and health. Emblematic is the matter of genetically modified organisms, one of the most debated technological innovations of the last few decades, which raises questions of a scientific, ethical, environmental, health, economic and social character. In tackling this issue neither science nor politics have been able to give exhaustive and conclusive answers.

Moreover, the environmental field is characterised by ‘tragic choices’ concerning the allocation and consumption of resources that are limited and sometimes not replaceable. As underlined by scholars, the real ‘tragedy’ of the commons (water, forests, and so on) seems to be their scarcity and perishability.

The incapability of contemporary democracies to face these challenges is at the basis of ever increasing distance and conflicts between public institutions and citizens, regarding the political decisions made in their name. In particular, during the last few decades quite often the realisation of infrastructure, industrial plants, waste disposal facilities and other types of works, potentially dangerous for the environment or health, or suspected of being so, has raised strong protests from the communities directly involved. These phenomena of public opposition are generally known as the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) syndrome, the extreme expression of which is generally indicated as the BANANA syndrome (where BANANA stands for Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).

Italy is experiencing a growing spread of ‘proximity conflicts’: public and private actors have antagonistic views on the meaning and on the pursuance of the public interest.