Challenges to the use of consensus building in integrated coastal management

An electronic forum involving 15 coastal managers was conducted in order to identify and explain the challenges involved in using consensus-building methods to resolve coastal management issues. The forumʹs participants generated a list of ten challenges. Getting participants committed to the consensus-building process was identified as the major problem. Participants reported four factors that may affect negatively the willingness of participants to commit to the process. These factors are the novelty of consensus building, the lack of incentive to seek a compromise, the apprehension of having to negotiate and the uncertainty of the outcome. The paper concludes with proposed strategies to overcome these factors.