Bottom-up Environmental Decision Making Taken Seriously: Integrating Stakeholder Perceptions into Scenarios of Environmental Change

The longstanding quest for properly integrating stakeholder perceptions and attitudes into environmental decision making has not yet reached a definite answer. Particularly in a river basin context, the interaction of economic activities, ecological factors and social values contribute to an increase in the complexity of policy options and the likelihood of intervention failures. Conflicts between users, their relationship with the State and their interaction with the natural environment must be analyzed in depth. This paper attempts to analyze the active stakeholder groups in the river basin of Axios in northern Greece applying the methodological tools of stakeholder analysis and focus groups. Special attention is paid to their perceptions about risk, values of the coastal environment, and the role of State and individual responsibilities.

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