1、Designation: E 2348 06Standard Guide forFramework for a Consensus-based Environmental Decision-making Process1This standard is issued under the fixed designation E 2348; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year oforiginal adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of l
2、ast revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. Asuperscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.1. Scope1.1 This guide presents a framework for a stakeholder-focused Consensus-based Environmental Decision-making(CBED) process,
3、 which is a stakeholder-empowered, processto prioritize and select actions to be initiated with the goal ofoptimizing many types of environmental decisions that mayaffect a community or communities.1.2 This guide is intended to describe a highly flexibleCBED process, and therefore does not recommend
4、 a specificcourse of action for this activity.1.3 This guide is intended to assist in implementing a CBEDprocess, which allows assessing the full impact of any project-or issue-related decisions related to human health, ecological,socio-cultural or economic impacts.21.4 This guide is not intended to
5、 replace existing environ-mental decision-making or public participation processes. Itmay be used with other processes or standards that addressstakeholder involvement in environmental decision-making.1.5 LimitationsThis standard does not address the specificmethods for generating or evaluating tech
6、nical data related toassessing a particular environmental issues. The user shouldseek other sources on methods to gather information forcompletion of models or other analyses that may be usedduring a CBED process.2. Referenced Documents2.1 ASTM Standards:3E 1739 Guide for Risk-Based Corrective Actio
7、n Applied atPetroleum Release SitesE 1984 Guide for Brownfields RedevelopmentE 2205 Guide for Risk-Based Corrective Action for Protec-tion of Ecological Resources2.2 Other Documents:P/CCRARM (The Presidential/Congressional Commissionon Risk Assessment and Risk Management),1997a, Framework for Enviro
8、nmental Health Risk Man-agement. Final Report. Volume I.4P/CCRARM (The Presidential/Congressional Commissionon Risk Assessment and Risk Management), 1997b, RiskAssessment and Risk Management in RegulatoryDecision-Making. Volume II.5Quality of Stakeholder-Based Decisions and UnderstandingRisk640CFR,
9、Part 1501-1506, The Quality of Stakeholder-BasedDecisions: Lessons from the Case Study Record, Re-sources for the Future710CFR Part 20, NEPA and Agency Planning; 9Standards forProtection Against Radiation,9 Subpart E, 9RadiologicalCriteria for License Termination.73. Terminology3.1 Definitions:3.1.1
10、 affected stakeholderany individual, group, com-pany, organization, government, tribe or other entity whichmay be directly affected by or has a stake in the outcome of thespecific CBED process.3.1.2 communitya group or groups of individuals wholive or work in specific neighborhoods or regions.3.1.3
11、consensus-based environmental decision-making(CBED) frameworka process structure that will facilitateempowering affected stakeholders in developing a CBEDprocess.3.1.4 consensus-based environmental decision-making(CBED) processa stakeholder-empowered process to assess,prioritize and select actions t
12、o initiate with the goal ofoptimizing environmental decisions with respect to humanhealth, and ecological, socio-cultural, and economic impacts.3.1.5 informed consentagreement reached by affectedstakeholders, which is obtained by a process by which affected1This guide is under the jurisdiction of AS
13、TM Committee E47 on BiologicalEffects and Environmental Fate and is the direct responsibility of SubcommitteeE47.05 on Risk Assessment, Communication and Management.Current edition approved Jan. 15, 2006. Published February 2006.2The CBED process is not meant to replace other processes, such as the
14、U.S.National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The strength of the CBEDprocess is to empower the stakeholders in an organized fashion to focus on specificissues that tend to result in litigation and long delays and can be readily used inconjunction with NEPA and/or other public participation
15、processes.3For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, orcontact ASTM Customer Service at serviceastm.org. For Annual Book of ASTMStandards volume information, refer to the standards Document Summary page onthe ASTM website.4Available at http:/ at http:/ at: http:/www.rff.or
16、g/Documents/RFF-DP-00-56.pdf7Available from Standardization Documents Order Desk, DODSSP, Bldg. 4,Section D, 700 Robbins Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111-5098.1Copyright ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, United States.stakeholders (1) are involved
17、in a participative process thatcreates common understanding of the issues, concerns andpriorities held by all affected stakeholders; (2) assess, prioritizeand select actions to improve the problem situation; and (3)agree to trade-offs to achieve consensus on specific initiativesrelated to the CBED p
18、rocess.3.1.6 interested partyany individual, group, company,organization or other entity which is not an “affected stake-holder” but which is interested in the outcome of the particularCBED process. Interested parties are not empowered with adecision-making role, and may participate on the Stakehold
19、erCommittee only as an observer or to provide information at thediscretion of the Stakeholder Committee.3.1.7 regulatora local, regional, state/provincial or fed-eral government agency or person employed to administratorenforce compliance with laws and regulations, which may beeither a stakeholder,
20、a decision-maker, or an advisor to theStakeholder Committee.3.1.8 stakeholder committeethe entity empowered tomake decisions within the CBED process which is composedof representative(s) selected from each group of affectedstakeholders. Members of the Stakeholder Committee areresponsible to act as l
21、iaisons with their respective stakeholdergroups.4. Summary of Guide4.1 The Consensus-Based Environmental Decision-makingProcess is a stakeholder-empowered, community-specific pro-cess established to assess, prioritize and select actions toinitiate with the goal of optimizing environmental decision-m
22、aking with respect to human health, ecological, socio-cultural, and economic impacts. The Stakeholder Committeemay consider issues related to environmental justice, whichrelates to the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of allpeople, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, national origin ored
23、ucation level. The CBED process is an iterative processcomprised of five main steps: (1) affected stakeholder identi-fication and formation of the Stakeholder Committee; (2)information gathering; (3) forecasting; (4) establishment ofinformed consent; and (5) implementation and evaluation ofinitiativ
24、es.4.2 The CBED process facilitates decision-making throughnegotiations among affected stakeholders with fairly consen-sual decision rules. An important part of the process is todetermine and clearly communicate to all participants the rulesto be followed about transparency, the procedures that will
25、 beused to reach consensus, and the delineation of the ultimatedecision-making authority.4.3 The CBED process allows the impact of any project-related or issue-related decision to be assessed. The processprovides all affected stakeholders with scientific and legalanalyses and decision criteria that
26、are prepared and interpretedby scientific, technical, and legal experts, as well as relevantqualitative experiential knowledge and values-based decisioncriteria. The Stakeholder Committee decides the relevance andimportance of the criteria to the decision under consideration.4.4 There is no specific
27、 path that has to be followed wheninitiating and participating in this CBED process. Dependingon the needs and priorities of the affected stakeholders and thelegal constraints governing specific environmental decisions,different entities may initiate the process, different proceduralrules may be ado
28、pted, and different analysis tools may be usedto address each issue or concern.5. Significance and Use5.1 This standard guide is designed to help the owners andregulators of a specific environmental problem to identify andintegrate affected stakeholders and establish a process toidentify and work th
29、rough all the key questions and answersessential to a mutually acceptable decision. This standard guidepresents a “framework” that is intended to help ensure that allthe CBED process components (that is, human health, ecologi-cal condition, socio-cultural values and economic well-being)are considere
30、d, but is designed to allow the user to interpretwhich components of the process are applicable and how thesecomponents are defined for the specific environmental problembeing addressed. It also provides general guidance to help withselecting approaches and methods for specific analyses of eachof th
31、e major CBED components (that is, human health,ecological condition, socio-cultural values, and economic well-being). The CBED process can be easily coupled with otherrelevant standards (for example Guides E 1739, E 1984, andE 2205) and environmental compliance guidance and require-ments, for exampl
32、e, Quality of Stakeholder-Based Decisionsand Understanding Risk, CRF40 and CFR10.5.2 The CBED process is appropriate in two contexts: (1)when a specific project is proposed; and (2) when there are ormay be public concerns about specific health, environmental,cultural, social or economic issues.5.3 I
33、nvolving affected stakeholders actively in the decision-making process reorients that process from one dominated byregulators and owners to one that includes those who live withthe consequences of the decision. This not only increases thesuccessful implementation of decisions, but also can promotegr
34、eater trust in government, industry and other institutions(P/CCRARM, 1997a).6. Consensus-based Environmental Decision-makingFramework6.1 Identification of Affected Stakeholders and Formation ofthe Stakeholder Committee:6.1.1 Stakeholders are at the center of the CBED process,and are involved from th
35、e earliest issue identification throughthe decision-making and decision-evaluation activities. Theaffected stakeholders contribute to problem definition, questionformulation, and decision-making rather than just providingfeedback about decisions made by others.6.1.2 Among the first choices to be mad
36、e is what level ofparticipation is desired for the particular CBED process; thefocus may be on individuals (as in a participatory democracy),on groups (as in a representative democracy), or a combinationof the two. Serious, active management of two-way commu-nication is essential and required to ide
37、ntify the appropriateparties early in the process. Adequate time should be allocatedto complete this effort before other significant CBED discus-sions are undertaken.6.1.3 It is necessary to both identify and involve the affectedstakeholders and interested parties. These groups should beE2348062invi
38、ted to select (a) representative(s) to participate on theStakeholder Committee; the most effective representatives arethose selected by the group or organization to be represented.There may be (a) representative(s) of several organizationswithin each category (for example, there may be two mainindus
39、tries in the area; there may be three government agencieswhich require representation; etc.). Each member of theStakeholder Committee is responsible to act as liaison withtheir respective stakeholder group.6.1.4 Construction of a “stakeholder map” is one effectivetechnique to guide the stakeholder i
40、dentification process (forexample, Fig. 1). The map for a particular CBED processshould be tailored to the specific features of the process. Theliterature on stakeholder involvement contains many differentstakeholder maps, classifications and typologies. The mappresented in Fig. 1 is an element of t
41、he CBED process thatshould be tailored to the specific needs of a particular process,which requires broad insights into the local and regionalcultures that may be affected by the process. Most importantly,the map should be recognized as a “living” entity, subject tomodification as needed throughout
42、the life of the process.Delineations of different spokes of the map are not intended toimply or expect “camps of different opinion,” about potentialissues related to the process; but rather to guide all participantstoward ensuring completeness in representation of stakeholdergroups. Refinements to t
43、he map should be made as participantsidentify different relationships or additional individuals orgroups.6.1.5 The Stakeholder Committee should identify a chair-person. The Chairperson should be selected by the entireStakeholder Committee and be willing to commit the timenecessary to fulfill this fu
44、nction. The Chairperson should beperceived as fair and impartial and should have collaborativeleadership skills, including facilitating group interactions.6.1.6 For the Stakeholder Committee to function optimally,it should establish ground rules for its operations and itsmembers. The basic ground ru
45、les are honest communication,clear understanding of how consensus will be reached and cleardelineation of whom or which agency is the final decision-maker (P/CCRARM, 1997b). Ground rules will be needed for:how communications will be dealt with; how information anddecisions will be documented; how to
46、 deal with a deadlock onan issue; and who will control the data and informationgenerated after the CBED process is completed.6.1.7 Depending on the specific CBED process, the servicesof a professional facilitator/mediator may be useful. Thedecision to employ a professional facilitator or mediator ma
47、ybe made at the beginning of the CBED process or during theprocess.6.1.8 The CBED process may proceed once the affectedstakeholders have been identified and contacted, and theStakeholder Committee has been formed and includes suffi-cient representation from each stakeholder group (Fig. 2). TheStakeh
48、older Committee may wish to define clearly the criteriait will use to make the determination to proceed.6.2 Information Gathering:6.2.1 Once the Stakeholder Committee has been formed, theCBED process continues with the Information Gathering. Inthis activity, information is gathered on stakeholder is
49、sues,perceptions, preferences and constraints. Various tools may beused to gather information, such as meetings, focus groups,newsletter, web sites, etc. Information is compiled on issuesrelevant to the specific CBED process, possibly includinglegally required considerations, current health status, environ-mental issues, social issues, cultural factors, economic status ofthe region, or other areas, as appropriate. Identification ofissues is critical because this information wil
