Influences on stakeholder representation in participatory coastal management programmes

This paper presents the findings of a study to identify the influences that affect stakeholder representation in coastal partnerships (CPs) in the United Kingdom. This was undertaken through a telephone interview survey with the officers of CPs and a personal interview survey with stakeholder representatives of four partnerships. The surveys allowed the typical flow of stakeholder representation through a CP decision-making process to be established in which: a stakeholder constituency passes their view to their representative; the representative joins in the CP decision process in which constituency interests are represented; this process then delivers a collective decision which has included the consideration of all constituency views. Factors that affect stakeholder representation were found to be: the responsiveness of the representative to their constituency; the inclusivity of access to the partnership and its decision-making process; and the fairness with which the decision-making process operated. It was concluded that if these influences were managed properly, CPs would more accurately reflect the views of all stakeholder constituencies, and would therefore move closer to the aspiration of integrated coastal management.