COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRACTICE FOR EFFECTIVE SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS IN THE EXTRACTIVE SECTOR IN NSW, AUSTRALIA
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY ARCH9092 URBAN REPORT UNIT COORDINATOR- A/PROFESSOR NANCY MARSHALL PHD PREPARED BY Nayonika De
Contents: Abstract 1 Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Research questions 1.3 Methodology 2 Literature review 2.1 Involving the communities in planning and decision making 2.2 Climbing on and off the participation ladder 2.3 Models of public participation 2.4 Difference between community engagement and public participation 2.5 Social Impact Assessment and community engagement are not alike 2.6 Community engagement for SIA practice 3 Case study discussion 3.1 Narrabri Gas Project 3.2 Gloucester Gas Project 4 Analysis 4.1 Going beyond IAP2 and heading towards Co-production 4.2 What is Co-production? 5 Conclusion 6 Recommendations 7 Limitations and future research directions 8 Bibliography
Acknowledgement I am really grateful to my professor, Nancy Marshall, my supervisor, Scott Daniel Perugini Kelly, my friends and family for their immense guidance and support in completing the unit ARCH9092 Urban Report.
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Abstract
Community engagement methods have been in use since the time the governments and the extractive sectors around the world felt the need to engage the people in decision and policy making processes. Australia too followed in the footsteps of the US and included participation as a part of EIA and SIA in 1974. Since the 2000s there has been a massive shift from public participation to community engagement. The immediate question arises if it exhibits an evolved way of contemplating the participation process, or is it the use of terms interchangeably. In Australia, the extractive sectors have made use of the IAP2 public participation model. With the advent of the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment Social Impact Assessment Guidelines for the State Significant Mining petroleum production and extractive industry development in 2017, the IAP2 model has been extensively applied as a community engagement model in various extractive projects in NSW. The practice of the existing IAP2 model of community engagement further leads to questioning the efficacy of the model. This research has been initiated to comprehend the current IAP2 method and find an effective model of community engagement that efficiently addresses the social impacts of the extractive projects in NSW and also involves communities efficiently in the decision making process. Keywords: Community participation, decision making, community engagement, public engagement, Social Impact Assessment, policy making 1 Introduction 1.1 Background
The rising concern over the relation disruption between the mining sector and the local communities in the past few decades (Basu, Hicks, Skoko and Sherley, 2015) has led to the evolution in the approach to communicate with the public (Parsons and Moffat, 2014) for the extractive sector in NSW, Australia. This evolution derives from the fact that the extractive industries are accountable and responsible towards the communities residing in the mining regions that are beyond legit and socio-economic determinants (Parsons and Moffat, 2014). The recent infrastructure growth and mining development (Parsons, 2019) in NSW has contributed to unavoidable social changes to the lives of the people who are vulnerable and do not hold the power to influence the decisions (Parsons, 2019) in relation to the state significant projects.
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The power dynamics of the government and the private stakeholders in relation to communicating with the communities has led to the evolution of the community engagement methods and practices around the world including NSW. Prominent cases of communication gap and noninclusivity in the decision making for the extractive projects have been identified in NSW. This has led to the demand for inclusive community engagement and clarity in the communication process for the extractive projects has resulted in the formulation of SIA Guidelines with the section of community engagement in 2017 in NSW. 1.2 Research questions
The gap in the communication process introduces the next immediate question of whether the existing community engagement model is effective in dealing with the rising disconnect between the communities and the government and the extractive companies in NSW. Subsequently, it culminates in the examination of the present community engagement model practiced in NSW. The research is concentrated on understanding if there is an effective way to engage with the communities in the mining regions of NSW? And is there an opportunity to improve on the community engagement model. 1.3 Methodology
The research has been meticulously structured to identify the opportunities to improve the existing community engagement model practiced for the extractive sector in NSW. The framing of the research questions commences with the identification of gaps in the literature on communicative planning and participation and community engagement models leading to thorough literature review. The research has focused on shaping the knowledge, studying the issue and identifying the scholarships. The methodology includes: defining the problem, literature review, research statement, research design, analysis and conclusion and further research opportunities. Knowledge shaping
The author developed the topic of interest with the assistance of mind map and study of literature with the keywords on communicative planning, public participation, community engagement, community involvement, Social Impact Assessment and extractive industry. An in depth study was undertaken to comprehend the subject matter and develop questions eventually.
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Study of the issue
After rigorous study of the relevant literature, the opportunities were identified for further research based on the research questions. Scholarships and theory identification
While undertaking the research few significant scholarships were identified based on which the literature review was initially framed. The ladder of citizen participation, IAP2 and co-production model are the prominent scholarships studied in order to address the research questions this paper is attempting to address. Case study and analysis
The desktop research on secondary data for the existing community engagement model, i.e. IAP2 led to the selection of the case studies in NSW. And further research and analysis of the chosen case studies assisted the author in refining the literature review. Proposal of new model and recommendations
Based on the literature review and the case study analysis, a new model of community engagement known as the co-production model has been proposed along with the recommendations. This paper also includes limitations and further scope of research. 2 Literature Review
According to Prof. Chester Rapkin* (refer to the note in the last page) since the 1900s urban planning around the globe has turned more inclusive in scope by involving the economic, land and built environment, social and political policies (Soen, 1981). The shift from end-state plans to more comprehensive and flexible plans formulated for the future development, has encouraged urbanism to interact with the interests, needs and concerns of the various communities (Soen, 1981). Arnstein in the 1960s had stated that citizen participation in urban planning is a continuum (Kotus, 2012) and now, the involvement of the communities considered a prerequisite for the effective and efficient execution of any urban renewal projects (Soen, 1981). The governments in both the developed and developing nations around the world have recently passed legislative regulations to engage communities for socially and environmentally impactful project decisions (Momtaz and Kabir, 2018).
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Irvin and Stansbury (2004) have also asserted that increased community engagement in the government policy and decision making system has numerous benefits but also argue that positive outcomes are what are envisioned when it comes to collaborating with the citizens in the planning and policy making for favorable environmental and social changes (Arnstein, 1969, 2007, 2019, Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). * Chester Rapkin: "Recent Development in Community Participation in Urban Planning in the United States". Research Statement
With comprehensive research this literature review supports the viewpoint on improving the existing model of community engagement in NSW for the extractive projects and to effectively and efficiently communicate with the communities for better outcomes for both the project and the society. 2.1 Involving the communities in planning and decision making
In practice as well as in concept, the existing neoliberal governance system considers ‘community’ to be powerful for a productive and sustainable growth (Mayes, McDonald and Pini, 2013) and thus involves them in the decision making mechanism. Community engagement is mainly promoted as collaborative approaches to frame the local socioeconomic and environmental corollaries (Mayes, McDonald and Pini, 2013). The established research views community engagement as vital to reinforcing democracy and mitigating serious environmental and social problems (Hurlbert and Gupta, 2015). Nelson and Wright (1995), Irvin and Stansbury (2004) have argued the community engagement process as the medium for social reform that produces better decisions and thus leads to the progress of society. The furtherance of the society is dependent on process and end results (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). The societal progress also includes the amenities that need to be anticipated i.e. the involvement of the benefactors like the government, private institutions and the communities in assessing the efficacy of the community engagement process which will help to overcome the constraints of policy making (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). Involved and informed communities apprehend the practically complex situations and pursue holistic and community wide resolutions (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). The intention to achieve cooperation from the communities is what motivates the governing and policy making bodies to delegate their decision making tasks to the engaging public to ameliorate policy outcomes by becoming aware of the community priorities (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004).
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On the other hand, Ostrom (1990), Irvin and Stansbury, (2004) state that collaborative planning and decision making systems perform best when the participating groups are relatively small and homogenous. Until these small public participants represent a constituency, there is no assurance by the governing institutions that each participant is able to persuade in his or her community. Irvin and Stansbury, (2004) state that the complacency of the public gives a strong argument for the top-down governing authority to disregard public participation on the grounds of effectiveness and efficiency. Lawrence and Deagen (2001) emphasize and imply that in situations where the citizens are likely to agree on the mandate of the decision making body, the public involvement process is nonessential (Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). Involving the communities in the decision making process led to the development of participation methods, one of them being Sherry Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation. 2.2 Climbing on and off the participation ladder
The classic “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” continues to frame our perception of community participation beyond planning (Rosen and Painter, 2019). For the past few decades, Arnstein' s ladder has been used as a benchmark by the policy makers and planning practitioners to promote community engagement (Tritter and McCallum, 2005). Arnstein, 1969, 2007, 2019 and Soen, 1981 consider public participation as an irrefutable term for power to the public (Arnstein, 1969, 2007, 2019 and Soen, 1981). It is the delegation of power that authorizes the excluded public, to be included to share the amenities the affluents are benefitted from and influence for a major social change (Arnstein, 1969, 2007, 2019). However, Arnstein's citizen participation framework is entirely focused on power to participate in the decision making process and acquiring this control is the key objective of public participation, which restricts the understanding behind the challenge of efficiently involving the communities in the decision and planning involvement process (Tritter and McCallum, 2005, Rosen and Painter, 2019). Such a weightage on power presumes that it has a generic ground for citizens, private developers, government and policymakers and disregards other relevant learning and expertise (Tritter and McCallum, 2005). Arnstein’s participation theory imparts partial authority to the public (Rosen and Painter, 2019). Arnstein’s model includes communities in a restricted way and fails to distinguish between method, typology of user and results (Rosen and Painter, 2019). The participation ladder by Arnstein is onedimensional, based on the citizens’ power to respond in the formal planning and decision-making systems (Rosen and Painter, 2019).
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With this realization, different professionals and authors have designed models to involve the communities in the decision making process. 2.3 Models of public participation
Today the literature comprises varied levels of public participation models and community engagement models (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013) and they have ameliorated to surpass the popular participation ladder by Sherry Arnstein (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). These models offer ‘best practice’ guidelines for professionals (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013). The linear and the nonlinear participation models illustrate the levels of community involvement in policy and decision-making with distinct participation methods from noninvolvement to tokenism to citizenship control (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013; Stakeholder participation: Arnstein’s ladder, 2016). The involvement level initiates with manipulation to informing the communities where the concerned organizations provide the with minimum information about particular projects to placation where the organization listens to the communities and ultimately to partnership where extended involvement of the communities take place. According to Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat (2013) collaboration with the communities includes the organizations to delegate authority and resources to the communities. The below chart shows the location of consultation in various engagement and participation models. A distinctive attribute amongst all the community engagement and public participation models relevant for the extractive and other sectors, is the position of the most prevalent terms - consultation (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013). Source: Scales of community participation (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013)
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It signifies that consultation goes above and beyond informing and educating the communities, but at the same time, it is lesser than active community engagement (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013). Additionally various reports and guidelines use the term community consultation equivalently to community engagement and community involvement (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013). Though it does not exactly indicate that bigger participation is always advantageous, many researchers and professionals have recommended that the level of participation should be based on the situation (Ross, Buchy and Proctor, 2013; Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013). Lately, the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), has framed the standard model for public participation applicable to all the nations. The values in IAP2 portray standard principles, asserting “communities impacted by any judgement have the right to be included in the decision-making process” (Parsons, Lederwasch and Moffat, 2013; Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). 2.4 Difference between C.E and public participation
Since the early 2000s there has been a shift from the use of the term public participation to community engagement in various government, public and private discourse (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). The prominent international body for the engagement of various communities and stakeholders, International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) has admitted to using the term public participation and community engagement reciprocally (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). Public participation as specified and defined by IAP2 is “a process that includes the public in the decision making mechanism and utilizes public feedback to make decisions and policies. It involves identifying the issues and opportunities, developing options and making decisions. It uses processes that are generic to a number of communication fields” (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). The IAP2 also exhibits its range of public participation with the use of both the terms (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). It has been framed to choose the range of participation that will define the role of the communities in the process of community engagement (IAP2 2016; Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). Australasia has been affiliated to IAP2 and the public participation model by IAP2 is applicable (IAP2 Australasia, n.d.) for various industries and institutions.The major difference between public participation and community engagement is that, public participation is specific to particular projects by the government and other industries, while community engagement is regarded as a continuous two-way or multiway process where relationship with the stakeholders rather than the
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decision outcomes are much more focused on (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). Thus, community engagement is an adaptive method for any organization to achieve positive relations preferably, by learning from and with the communities (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). According to Aslin and Brown (2004), community engagement transcends public participation and community involvement. It includes grabbing the attention of the communities and diverting it towards the issues that will likely impact them and they have the right to be informed about it (Aslin and Brown, 2004). Community engagement focuses on committing and executing as a process that has consequences from decisions by the government and other organizations (Aslin and Brown, 2004). This concept of community engagement has crucial consequences where people engage to understand the issues and actively participate and advocate on the issues that impact them (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). Hence, in community engagement, communities are the organizers and advocators where they are not restricted to the externalities of proposed projects, decisions and plans (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). Aslin and Brown (2004) have argued that community engagement has benefited the environment. Aware, informed and engaged communities take responsibilities to protect themselves and their surroundings (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). 2.5 Social Impact Assessment and community engagement are not alike
It is crucial to involve the affected communities in analyzing the social impacts (Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp and Franks, 2015) of the state significant projects in NSW, Australia. Conventional top-down decision making methods called Decide, Announce, Defend is an ineffective method for a sustainable growth. Alternatively, Meet, Understand, modify has been heralded (Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp and Franks, 2015). SIA comprises an analytical research process that impacts the decision making process and planning for social issues (Burdge and Robertson, 1990; Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp and Franks, 2015). Community engagement is a continuous and an effective way to tackle the socioeconomic issues which includes substantial and good faith communication among the stakeholders including the communities to influence policy and decision making (Burdge and Robertson, 1990; Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp and Franks, 2015). To the contrary, public participation processes include the requirement to inform the communities and permit them to voice their opinions about the planned intervention (Vanclay, Esteves, Aucamp and Franks, 2015).
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2.6 Community engagement for SIA practice
The functioning of the various extractive industries operating in the different regions in Australia and elsewhere have massive social, economic and environmental impacts on the local communities residing in the periphery of the mines (Lin, Li and Bu, 2014). Also, in land use and infrastructure planning Social Impact Assessments (SIAs) have become increasingly significant (Parsons, 2019, Gomez, Donovan and Bedggood, 2014) thus providing advocacy on evaluating the capacity to administer the social impacts of their projects (Gomez, Donovan and Bedggood, 2014). Communities also constitute a part of stakeholders that are immensely influenced by the extractive industry activities(Lin, Li and Bu, 2014). Public inspection is being carried out for the different mining companies to analyse their effects on the communities and society in general (Cesar and Jhony, 2020). The extractive sector has seen an increased number of social conflicts happening between the extractive industries and the surrounding local communities (Davis and Franks, 2014, Cesar and Jhony, 2020). Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is undergoing changes both in terms of evolution and revolution (Parsons, 2019).For example, NSW in the past has witnessed urban and infrastructure growth and its consequences intensifying in Sydney, and mining growth in the Hunter Valley region (Parsons, 2019). The communities irrespective of extractive or non extractive projects functioning, are living with continuing inevitable social changes (Parsons, 2019). State Significant projects like the WestConnex, Narrabri gas project and coal-seam gas and coal mining, have had considerable social impacts and community objection but at the same time the expectations of the public has evolved (Parsons, 2019). Communication and provision of information on the projects is crucial and this is why, there is a need for discussion on both practise and development of community engagement as a part of SIA (Parsons, 2019). For example, community participation is central to practise sustainable urban development and the developers and practitioners need approval of the communities for significant planning and decision making projects (Thomson and Boutilier 2011; Luke 2017; Luke, Brueckner and Emmanouil 2018; Parsons and Moffat 2014a). Therefore, there is a high demand from the public to both government and private developers to thoroughly evaluate how the State Significant projects might impact the locals, before the approval and finalization of such projects (Parsons, 2019).SIAs however have a scope to further improve (Parsons, Everingham, Kemp 2018).
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And it requires improvement to work with diverse communities with varying beliefs, values systems and interests that are existent in the various societal situations (Lockie, 2001, 2012, Gomez, Donovan and Bedggood, 2014). The quantitative variables divert the attention from serious social impacts towards easily recognizable and measurable impacts (Ahmadvand et al., 2009, Gomez, Donovan and Bedggood, 2014). This means there are sociocultural impacts which are overlooked (Lockie, 2001, 2012, Rowan, 2009). The inattention paid towards the social issues of the communities residing in the vicinity of the mining areas leads to tense relationship with the government and the extractive sectors. Gomez, Donovan and Bedggood (2014) have argued that community engagement within the initial stage of the SIA is either disregarded or inconsistent in practice. It is significant to understand that collaborating and empowering the communities help the private and government stakeholders to initiate and continue state significant projects. In response, the co-production model has been identified that empower the communities and their inclusive engagement can be crucial in the decision making processes. Below is the co-production model that will be further discussed in this research. Source: From Citizen Control to Co-Production, 2019
3 Case study discussion
The increasing pressure on the extractive companies to gain social acceptance by extensively involving the local communities (Wilson, 2016; Koivurova et al., 2015; Tuulentie et al., 2019). has led to designing strategies of community engagement.
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The engagement process has evolved from delivery of information (Hanna, 2000; Tuulentie et al., 2019) by the government and other stakeholders to an interactive method of communication for decision making by the communities and empower them (Hanna, 2000; Tuulentie et al., 2019). The Co-production model acknowledges and expresses the significance to involve the communities by including them and empowering them in the process of decision making. The following case studies have been selected to study how the existing IAP2 model has worked to involve the communities in the decision making process of the extractive projects in NSW. 3.1 Narrabri Gas Project
Situated in the Pilliga region, south of Narrabri, NSW, Santos has proposed to develop the Narrabri Gas Project (Narrabri Gas Project, 2020). This State Significant Development (SSD) project aims to build a new gas field along with improving its associated infrastructure to assist in the sound functioning of the gas field. The project will provide gas in NSW (Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements, n.d.; Narrabri Gas Project, 2020).And as stated by DPIE, this project is of public good as it will secure gas supply for NSW (Taylor and Park, 2020). This claim is derived from Santos’ commitment to supply gas entirely to NSW (Taylor and Park, 2020). The extractive project consists of critically miscalculated hazards to the surrounding communities, the existing water resources and the ecosystem (Taylor and Park, 2020). Professor Deanna Kemp (2017) has identified the social impacts of this project based on the SIA report. The SIA for the Narrabri Gas project does not consider the social impacts of diverse groups within the communities residing in the periphery of this project (Kemp, 2017). Solely the landholders have been recognized and consulted as a major group to discuss their grievances arising from this project and the major discussion was composed on local tourism and trade (Kemp, 2017). The socio-economic impacts on the disadvantaged people and their housing crisis were disregarded (Kemp, 2017). The Chapter 9 of SIA Community and stakeholder consultation, Santos is restrained in engaging with the vulnerability of the marginalized sections and considering (Kemp, 2017). The community engagement process lacks information clarity as mentioned by Kemp (2017). The question arises, to what extent the communities were involved and their views were considered in the management of the social impacts caused by this project? And if the engagement was inclusive enough?
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“The engagement and the advocacy for open cut mining and for coal seam gas in this region has been done badly by the state. And the ones who could do community engagement and advocacy—mainly the shires— were not involved. The state didn’t involve them and say, hey look we can’t handle this, can we have your help?” (Community stakeholder) (Askew and Askland , 2016).In the Narrabri Gas Project, the discussion on ambiguity and information availability surfaced and the communities despite trying to engage with the project couldn' t succeed to derive accurate information about the process of the project (Holmes, Measham, Jeanneret and Kear, 2018). The communities by observing the oversight in the procedures to involve them in the project, hesitated to trust both the government and the private company (Holmes, Measham, Jeanneret and Kear, 2018). 3.2 Gloucester Gas Project
This project is situated in the Gloucester region, about 62 miles from Newcastle, New South Wales. This proposed project had a huge potential to cater the gas supply requirements in NSW (Luke, Brueckner and Emmanouil 2018).In the year 2009, the commencement of community consultation reported conflict (Grubert and Skinner, 2017) to an extent where the extractive company was barred access to the resources and services in the region (Grubert and Skinner, 2017). Ultimately in 2016, the outcome was the withdrawal of the project by the CSG company (Luke, Brueckner and Emmanouil 2018). Transparency and data accessibility issues have been identified along with the difficulty to information interpretation (Holmes, Measham, Jeanneret and Kear, 2018) in this particular project. 4 Analysis
These case studies highlight how crucial community engagement procedure is in the industry-community relationship and conflict resolution (Luke, Brueckner and Emmanouil 2018) for the state significant projects to continue and benefit NSW and its people. Though mitigating the social impacts is significant but the flawed community engagement processes have lowered the trust of the communities towards the industry and hence the acceptance rate is low even if the impacts have been mitigated (Walton and McCrea 2020).The NSW Government is a crucial actor in maintaining a good relation with the extractive industry as this project will secure gas supply for NSW (Taylor and Park, 2020) and also with the communities impacted by the Narrabri Gas Project (Walton and McCrea 2020) to continue the project in the region.
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According to Hindmarsh and Alidoust, (2019) and Maloney (2015) the pro CSG NSW Government exhibited strict rules surrounding CSG plans, potential environment and social impacts and community consultation and information. The Greens considered the community consultation process to be weak and poorly regulated and put forward recommendations on community engagement by reflecting on the limited “inform and consult� form of community engagement (Hindmarsh, 2010; Hindmarsh and Alidoust 2019).Another notable issue in the public participation and community engagement process has been identified on the regulation and reliability of information (Hanna, 2000) provided by the extractive sectors and other stakeholders. Community engagement has been effective in conducting collaborative fact finding in which the communities can question the information supplied to them (Ozawa, 1991) and provide their input to the stakeholders that can be beneficial in the decision making processes in the long run (Fischer, 1993, 2002). Coproduction framework has significantly transformed the communication and participation between the communities and the other stakeholders. 4.1 Going beyond IAP2 and heading towards Co-production
The prerequisite for the involvement of the communities started with environmental and socio-economic decision-making with the introduction of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA), from 1974 in Australia (Ross, Baldwin and Carter, 2016). The existing public participation and community engagement processes extends to varied alternative practices (Head, 2008). But at the same time, there is no doubt in terms of evident ambiguity under which the community engagement process is established (Head, 2008). In fact, this issue's intensified and is intentional by the use of imprecise terms in the community engagement practices (Head, 2008). This ambiguity keeps the communities in doubt about the engagement processes. IAP2 public participation and community engagement process has caused ambiguity of various terms (Head, 2008) which has been officially used in NSW since 2017 for the extractive and state significant development projects. IAP2 has readily accepted to have used the public participation and community engagement terms interchangeably. Rather than looking at the community government communication as the conventional two way process of engagement, where the communities react to the extractive project proposals from the government and the private stakeholders (Innes and Booher, 2007), there should be a multi-way communication where the communities have a stronger voice to influence the decisions of the extractive sector before the approval of the extractive projects (Innes and Booher, 2007).
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It is also crucial to understand the power dynamics and limitations of the organizations (Head, 2008). This standpoint is critical in comprehending the existing nature of the government to collaborate with the stakeholders including the communities (Osborne 2000; Mandell 2001; Head 2008). The co-production model, unlike the conventional engagement models, has viewed communities as active participants with strong opinions who can influence decision making (Rosen and Painter, 2019) thus alerting the power dynamics and empowering themselves. The individuals in the communities have different levels of awareness, information and involvement that caters to efficacious participation (Cavaye 2004; Head 2008). Capacity building is pivotal for successful engagement of the communities (Head, 2008) for any project (Head, 2008). It bridges the gap for the individuals in communities to be informed and hence empower them to contribute in the decision making process effectively and efficiently irrespective of the scale of the project (Head, 2008). The model of co-production provides an inclusive model of community engagement that gives more power to the communities (Rosen and Painter, 2019). 4.2 What is Co-production?
Though the community engagement process for the extractive sector in Australia and around the world has been complicated and filled with challenges (Booth and Halseth, 2011; Tuulentie et al., 2019), the role of community engagement in urban planning is regarded as place-specific and is mainly based on the stipulated planning initiatives (Healey, 2004; Lane, 2005; Tuulentie et al., 2019) which also includes the mining sector. Also, the role of community engagement involves providing information and knowledge (Bruckmeier and Tovey, 2008; Hanna, 2000; Tuulentie et al., 2019) that is crucial for the communities and social acceptance of the extractive companies.In the literature of urban planning, the model of coproduction is gaining prominence (Wamsler, 2017). Co-production contemplates the contribution of both the Government and the communities’ knowledge and skills in the planning and implementation (Wamsler, 2017) of state significant development projects in NSW. This model is based upon the science and policy along with the public private partnership (Wamsler, 2017). Co-production includes explicit involvement of the communities (Sarzynski, 2015; Wamsler, 2017) in different phases of the decision making process. The Co-production model’s main objective is to surpass the conventional (Wamsler, 2017) involvement and collaboration structure and adapt to the evolved and gradual transformation to achieve resilience in the planning and decision making system (Wamsler, 2017).
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This model specifically presents a long term process to transform the power dynamics among the stakeholders including the communities (Rosen and Painter, 2019). Thus, a co-production model characterized by persistent and explicit collaboration leads to uninterrupted information exchange among the communities, government and the private stakeholders (Rosen and Painter, 2019). The dynamic and collaborative process of engagement in each phase of the project provides the communities with resources and power delegation authority (Rosen and Painter, 2019). This indicates long term benefits for both the stakeholders undertaking significant projects and decisions and as well as the communities. 5 Conclusion
The models of public participation and community engagement have come a long way and still have a long way to go. In this era of neoliberalism, the power dynamics and the relation among the government, extractive sectors and communities play a key role in determining the execution of the extractive projects in NSW. Narrabri and Gloucester Gas projects studied in this paper have presented the prevailing process of community engagement and have led to analysing and proposing a new community engagement model known as the coproduction model. This model is an initiative to reduce the communication gaps through explicit participation of the communities in exchanging information with the government and the extractive companies. The co-production model encourages multi-way interaction and delegation of authority to the communities thus influencing the policy decisions. 6 Recommendations - The NSW Government is responsible to coordinate with the extractive sector to function efficiently (Walton and McCrea 2020). At the same time it is important for the government and the private stakeholders to support capacity building of the locals and empower the diverse communities (Walton and McCrea 2020). It is of utmost importance to improve the community engagement process to gain trust of the communities (Walton and McCrea 2020) which can be done through the co-production model. - Fairness of the community engagement procedure to build and maintain the relationship with the communities should be practiced to provide amenities and attain the desired community outcomes (Walton and McCrea 2020).
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- Based on the discussed case studies, the Social Impact Assessments of the extractive projects should also include the detailed social impacts of the proposing, planning and involving the communities regarding the extractive projects along with including the social impacts of the extractive projects proposed (Grubert and Skinner, 2017). - Essentially, the planning practitioners should transcend public participation beyond community engagement and involvement, using a robust, long-term community engagement model, with capacity building and resource allocation, to make sustainable and resilient communities (Rosen and Painter, 2019). 7 Limitations and future research directions
The limitations are based on the analysis of this paper and the literature studied for this research work that can assist in future studies. This research is restricted and future study will broaden the discussion of the topic of effective community engagement model. Future research scope consists of investigating the existing co-production model that will assist to understand if the top-down approach by the NSW Government is still effective in involving the communities in decision making. In terms of quantifying the research, this research paves a way to explore the correlation between the existing co-production model and the dynamics of faith of the communities in the government and the extractive sector. Furthermore, indepth research on the existing co-production model can lead to new models and approaches of community engagement in all the sectors including mining. The community engagement model has been developed based on the desktop research and no interviews or survey was undertaken to analyze this research topic. This research is based on the extractive sector in the remote locations of NSW. Consequently, the research outcomes based on the case studies can't be considered for the non extractive projects in the metropolises. Most of the extractive companies do not have absolute relations with the diverse communities and henceforth, it paves the way to further examine the effects from the mining activities like, inclusion of human rights and involvement of the aboriginals, even before the inception of the extractive projects. This research has not considered the perceptions of the mining communities of NSW. Further study could focus on studying the role community engagement plays in making the extractive sectors more sustainable as per the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
8 Bibliography
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