Eco-activism : issues and strategies of environmental interest groups in British Colubmia
Date
1972
Authors
Draper, Dianne
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Abstract
Environmental interest groups are a relatively recent socio-political development. They have arisen in response to the rapid deterioration in the quality of the environment and in response to the apparently increasing alienĀation of the public in the decision-making process.
To date, these groups have been studied to only a limited extent by social scientists. Environmental groups, however, are of interest and concern to geographers particularly as they contribute to an understanding of why certain landscape changes have taken place, and as they pertain to closing the gaps in the knowledge of the way in which decisions affecting man and his environment are made.
The major problem facing these groups in British Columbia is whether they will succeed in becoming important inputs into the policy process, or whether they will be only a temporary phenomenon in the political arena. This study investigated the efficacy of selected environmental interest groups as inputs into environmental decision-malting in British Columbia by examining the five major factors that appear to influence efficacy of interest groups in general. These five factors are:
(a) the goals sought
(b) the internal organization and membership characteristics
(c) the issues upon which attention is focussed
(d} the strategies selected by which to attain the stated objectives, and
(e} the views of the policy makers as to the role of the public in policy formulation
The results of the study showed that the survival of the environmental interest group as a political force is influenced by the factors listed above. While some of the environmental groups studied appear to have influenced the decisionĀ-making process, it was extremely difficult to determine precisely the underlying factors in any particular case. However, the study did note the implications of environmental group action on policy and the policy makers. It also pointed out profitable areas for further research, such as the attitudes of decision-makers towards public participation. The results of such studies would help determine more precisely the role which the public can play in the decision-making process, and would also help to assess the longer term prospects of environmental interest groups.