Lessons Learned from Public Participation Process in Strategic Environmental Assessment of Electrical Power Development in Southern Thailand
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Abstract
This research article aims to study the people participation process in the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of electrical power development in southern Thailand and to learn lessons from the people participation process in this SEA. It is qualitative research. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 40 stakeholders by purposive sampling, observations, and document studies. The analysis of data employed content analysis within the CIPP-I framework.
Findings are as follows: Assessment results. (1) Context: The policy on electrical power development according to Thailand’s Power Development Plan of 2015-2036 (PDP 2015) emphasized reducing the reliance upon natural gas by increasing the proportion of electrical power generated from coal. The construction of the Krabi and Thepha coal-fired power plants is therefore a source of conflict among people both supporting and opposing the construction. (2) Input: At the initial stages, people who participated in the participation process did not understand and distrust, after process operation there was a better understanding, trust and cooperation towards the process, while the organizers were qualified and sufficient. (3) Process: People were able to access the information through various channels. The participants were at level of information receiving to the level of decision-making. (4) Product: The informants accepted the outcome of the studies, and (5) Impact: It can reduce the conflict and the relationship among different groups was better.
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Academic articles, research articles, and book reviews in the Ph.D. in Social Sciences Journal are author’s opinions, and not the publisher’s, and is not the responsibility of the Ph.D. in Social Sciences Journal Philosophy Association, Ramkhamhaeng University. (In the case that research is done on human, the researcher has to be trained in Ethics for Doing Research on Human Training and has to produce the evidence of the training).
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