Participatory sustainability research for risk management and leadership development

Abstract

Effective risk management and sustainability promotion require proper assessment of the environment and social capacity for managing the environment. National governments and international agencies provide monitoring data on the environment such as data relating to air and water quality, forest cover, land, biodiversity, and waste management. While local communities and stakeholders need to play a vital role in managing risks and promoting sustainability at the field level, however, they often lack scientific information. Instead they rely on the experiential and observation-based information that is often the most useful in communicating to other community members and stakeholders. Participatory assessment can therefore provide a useful tool for community members and stakeholders to comprehend environmental risks and challenges in promoting sustainability. Meanwhile, the feedback from the communities and stakeholders constitutes useful information for decision-makers and practitioners to plan and facilitate transformation in policies and institutions in order to improve environmental risk management and promote sustainability.