Did you know that governments often open public consultation during a legislative iter? I did, but somehow I often come very late to the party and realise right on the deadline, or just the day after... If you didn’t even know this was a thing, or always come late to it - don’t worry. It’s not you. It’s just that it’s not advertised at all! Only recently I stumbled upon TWO consultations, one, Italian, about areas for extractions of hydrocarbons and one, European, about the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.. .
And I came across both very randomly: I was on twitter, for work reason (yes, we use it to promote our research, and to talk to other researchers - academia has gone a bit wrong this way). And i follow the Ministry for ecological transition and the EU Maritime & Fish.. So, the first take home message is that to be involved in political decisions, one has to take a little proactive step of, at least, following the ‘right’ media channels. The other ‘mass media’ will do little to echo these things, so it’s time to take matter onto ones own hands and going to actively search But it’s not enough. Because after you find a public consultation you need to know what to do with it. Because a public consultation should be done with ‘the public’ in mind, but it's not always the case.. The Italian one, for example, it's full of documents, updated in a random order and in a format that makes you really want to close the page straight away before even getting to the ‘non-technical summary’ (once you find it) and at least begin to grasp and understand what it is. Okay, the topic is a difficult one, but since it’s likely going to affect many people (and not just the maximum experts in the field) - wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least explain it in understandable terms? Even the non technical summary is difficult - and I wonder whether it's due to lack of care or even purposely done like this. I'd prefer if it was the first, but even then, it would be better if they could care a little more.. The EU consultation is about a review of an ‘existing’ framework that was set up in 2020 which is up for review in 2023. The deadline for consultation is in a few months time. At least, it is set up much more easily and the procedure requires the filling of a very well guided questionnaire. So: if you care about the seas (and if you are reading this, chances are that you are?) go do it! Personally, I think that public consultation can be an important part of the process, although it does not remove the need for a good technical table and for the government to take responsibility of the ultimate decision, it can give insights to take those decisions in a better way. In this light, a questionnaire approach with a more ‘general’ approach is probably more indicated (the MFD questions are not necessarily about the legislation in itself but about the citizen perception of the status of the seas so far and what more / different should be done) . I am a firm believer that we should be active citizens, and play a part in politics. But ultimately, politics should facilitate this process, not just do it because it has to but then make it so difficult/impossible/exclusive. It should be a public consultation and not an expert consultation. And it should be advertised much much much wider. Until then, we should ask for it to happen. Reply to that tweet, write to them, whatever needs to be done to stop being sheep and be the writer of (at least our own) history..
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