Participation and Mediation for Climate and Environment
Austria and the whole planet are in a period of change: the climate crisis and environmental destruction are not problems of the future, but of the present. That is why numerous measures are being implemented to enable the energy transition, protect nature, and promote biodiversity.
However, these measures are not always uncontroversial and present decision-makers with the challenge of reconciling climate goals, social justice, and economic interests. This inevitably leads to conflicts that can cause discontent, fruitless polarization, and climate policy dead ends. But the desire to avoid conflict also has consequences if it means that solutions to social and ecological problems are not openly discussed and subsequently not implemented.
That is why it is important not to avoid conflicts, but to face them courageously. Only in this way can underlying problems become visible and thus changeable. To ensure this succeeds, we support you with our approach of conflict-sensitive participation and mediation in the environmental and climate sector.
Our services
- Consulting and design of a conflict-sensitive participation process in collaboration with the client
- Management and moderation of both public events and stakeholder meetings in a manageable circle
- Mediation in the event of a smoldering or erupted conflict
- Further training for practitioners on dealing with climate and environmental conflicts
The goal of conflict-sensitive participation and mediation is
- Greater satisfaction among a larger number of stakeholders
- Better quality projects
- Broader acceptance of municipal energy transition projects, renaturation, and the reintroduction of beavers, wolves, and other wildlife
- Enabling meaningful projects thanks to broader acceptance
We provide support in the following areas
- Renaturation: Measures in this area will increase, partly as a result of the EU Renaturation Act. The politicization of the issue in Austria and the large number of stakeholders and political levels involved—from the EU to the municipal level—make the implementation of renaturation a contentious issue. External expertise helps to find ways to accommodate the various interests. The ACP has produced a policy brief on this topic.
- Energy transition: Wind farms and large-scale PV installations often meet with resistance. Concerns are not always heard at an early stage, and conflicts can escalate into months of dispute. Early participation helps all stakeholders to make their views heard and find common solutions.
- Wolves, beavers, and co.: Few topics trigger as much emotion as wolves, beavers, and co. Since protected animals are increasingly being reintroduced in Europe, questions arise about species protection, herd protection, and the coexistence of humans and animals. Mediation and dialogue formats help to look beyond entrenched positions.
Our expertise
Conflict work on climate and environmental conflicts is pioneering in Austria. At the same time, the ACP has over 40 years of experience in mediation and dialogue - both in Austria and in conflict areas worldwide. By focusing onenvironmental peacebuilding, we bring together climate, environment, peace, and security and use innovative approaches to make peace work applicable to climate and environmental conflicts. Our research helps to ensure that this field of work follows the latest scientific standards and that we are constantly evolving. Through our training programs, we support practitioners in their work.
The following approaches support our work
- Nonviolent Communication (NVC)
- Thematic Centered Interaction (TCI)
- Ideas from psychologist Herbert C. Kelman
- Agreement-oriented mediation and clarification assistance
- Approaches and methods of participation and interactive decision-making (e.g., sociocracy, dynamic facilitation, art of hosting, etc.)
Our attitude, our way of working
- Conflicts can be destructive, but even more so constructive. We take care to promote the constructive side so that conflicts offer an opportunity to find new, better solutions.
- We take concerns about conflicts seriously. This allows potential stumbling blocks to be identified early on.
- Good planning creates trust and security. It is the starting point on which all further steps are based.
- Conflict analysis ensures that the key issues and parties are taken into account.
- We focus on the needs and interests behind the respective positions, etc., because behind positions there are understandable needs. We help to make these visible.
- This increases the chance of reaching a solid consensus rather than a half-and-half compromise and keeps the door open for new, as yet unconsidered solutions.
- We consider transparent, feasible final agreements to be essential.
- No time for participation? Experience shows that the time and effort invested in participation and conflict management are well spent and save time and money in the long run.
Our Team
The ACP team brings together a wide range of experience. The following people are currently your contacts for participation and mediation in the field of environment and climate:
Wolfgang Weilharter is the Project Manager for the project "Communal Peace and Conflict Work in Burgenland". His focus is on the implementation of mediation and dialogue processes on the communal level, in the areas of communal politics, housing and neighbourhoods and local coexistence of people of different origins.
Sophia Stanger is Senior Project Manager and in charge of the project "Capacity Development for Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa". She is also responsible for the Environmental Peacebuilding sector. Sophia Stanger has many years of experience in NGO work, project management and team leadership, for example in the fields of education, humanitarian advocacy and volunteer missions. Her expertise also lies in the intersection of environment/climate and conflict resolution approaches. Sophia Stanger is also a qualified trainer and has completed a mediation training.