The Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University has plans to organize two local citizens' councils during the fall of 2024. These councils, part of the Landpaths research program funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's environmental research grant in collaboration with the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, are intended to explore and provide recommendations on governance and management challenges in Voxnadalen (Alfta) and the Nämdö archipelago (Värmdö Municipality).
The citizens' councils, also known as civic preparatory bodies or citizens' juries, represent a form of Deliberative Mini-Publics (DMP), a method for gathering a representative group of citizens to deliberate on specific issues. These forums are designed to promote open, inclusive, and well-informed discussions, where participants have the opportunity to reflect, listen, and learn from each other as well as from experts and stakeholders.
Each citizens' council aims to engage between 22 to 30 participants, selected through a random and stratified selection process to ensure representation from various parts of the population. The process, characterized by its pursuit of diversity and inclusion, is intended to reflect the breadth of the Swedish population.
The two-day-long citizens' councils, scheduled to take place sometime between October and November 2024, will focus on compiling recommendations for local organizations and municipalities on how the landscapes should be managed moving forward. Participants will receive compensation for their involvement, underscoring the importance of citizens' contributions to this process.
The project is led by a consortium of Swedish universities, including Uppsala University, Stockholm University, Södertörn University, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), ensuring a scientifically based and well-organized process.
The initiative with the citizens' councils in Sweden is a promising step towards integrating more deliberative forms of democracy into public decision-making. By giving citizens the opportunity to directly engage in important local issues, organizers hope to create more inclusive and sustainable solutions for the future.
More about Landpaths: https://www.geo.uu.se/research/natural-resources-sustainable-development/ongoing-research/landpaths/