Environmental Citizenship and West DEN

1
Environmental Citizenship and West DEN

• Dr Alison Anderson
• University of Plymouth

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West DEN Background

• Established in 1994 in rural West Devon
• Independent charity status with recently
  established business arm
• Worked with West Devon Borough Council in
  implementing LA 21 processes but retained
  independence
• Network of 250 members
• Staff of 20 (mainly part-time)

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Aims

• To support those members of the community who
  wish to conserve, preserve or sustain their
  social, economic, and natural environments.
  (West DEN constitution)
• Emphasis on tackling social exclusion and
• linking local issues to issues of national and
  global concern
• Public awareness and engagement tapping into
  everyday concerns (issue of how representative?)

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Community Participation

• To be responsive to our community for
  facilitation of sustainability to listen to and
  respond to the need for practical
  projectsdealing with things like transport and
  jobs and community issues, so we want to keep
  that level of support going. (Interview, 1995)
• Sustainability indicators project developed
  with members of the community

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Indicators Survey - 2003

• Claim to have developed 31 indicators in
  extensive consultation with local people
• Suggests little change since 1997 in numbers of
  residents in West Devon actively involved in the
  community
• Approx. 35 stated they were very/fairly involved
  in local activities

6
Community Ownership

• We evolved organically listening to what
  people were saying about the projects that they
  thought were most appropriate to sustainability
  and developing those. We just spread and
  developed until we adopted charitable status as
  an organisation, to reinforce our independence
  more than anything Our first budget was 6,000
  in our first six months. We now turn over about
  400,000 per year (Interview, 2003)

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Major Funding Sources

• Rural Development Commission
• Local borough and county councils
• European Regional Development Fund
• Community Fund
• Environment Agency
• European Social Fund

8
Facilitation

• There are lots of skills here, untapped
  skills. Particularly with the early retired Its
  a huge untapped resource and I dont think weve
  yet learnt how to tap into that. (Interview,
  2003)
• System of Agenda 21 Agents
• Local Animateurs helping local groups work with
  their own communities

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Current Projects

• Rural Youth Transport (loan of economical
  scooters and electric bikes, subsidised driving
  lessons)
• Rural Skills (Provides training in rural skills)
• Good Food (Promotes local, healthy and organic
  food)
• Involve (West Devon Youth Forum - political
  representation)

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Current Projects (contd)

• Ley of the Land (Advice on rural skills training
  and employment opportunities to young people in
  West Devon)
• Rural Links (Links to projects in several
  countries, including India Albania, dealing
  with issues such as regeneration and social
  enterprise)

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Contrast with Views on Citizenship in Plymouth

• As far as theyre concerned their environment
  is about graffiti and dog fouling, green spaces.
  People are very keen to protect individual rights
  but theyre not very keen on public
  responsibilities (Interview, Plymouth 2020
  member, 2003)
• You dont have huge numbers of willing
  volunteers in Plymouth, youve got to fight for
  them because what we do is seen as less
  important in the context of a relatively poor
  city with social exclusion because environment is
  seen as separate from the economy. (Interview,
  Environment Forum Co-ordinator, 2003)

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Identity and Everyday Life

• People come to the issues through particular
  things that matter to them. The human and
  relational aspects of the environment are often
  what are resonant. The environment becomes
  meaningful when it engages with social life,
  inhibiting or facilitating the development of
  ongoing human relationships People may want to
  be a small part of the imagined community
  concerned about the plight of the Amazonian rain
  forest and so on but such concern appears
  fleeting and short-lived if dislocated from
  everyday life concerns (Macnaghten, 2003 18)

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Implications for Citizenship

• Community consultation leading to compromise?
• Consumerism and economic self-interest
• Need to identify how sustainable development is
  defined in a particular locality
• Problems with information deficit model
• Need for recognition of complex inter-linkages
  between local, national and global action