By digital public participation, we mean digital access to information that must be provided as part of a participation process, such as environmental reports or application documents. There must also be digital opportunities for active participation, for example through digital objections or online discussion sessions.
Effective digital public participation makes planning and permitting decisions understandable and allows the interests of project developers, civil society, environmental protection and authorities to be balanced. This is not only expected to lead to greater acceptance of decisions. Early digital participation can be expected to make planning more efficient and therefore faster.
The right use of digital technologies enables efficient data collection, analysis and synthesis of public input. Automated functions such as surveys and data analysis can facilitate the processing of feedback and identify important trends or priorities among participants at an early stage. At the same time, public relations and communication costs for authorities and project developers are reduced.
As participation moves into the digital space, it remains essential that participation rights are not restricted, but seen as an opportunity for robust and balanced administrative decision-making. In this way, the enforcement of existing environmental protection standards can be decisively promoted.
