The "Pragmatic Collective Interest" as the Product of Civic Deliberation: The Case of Pesticide Management in Belgium

Melard, François; Mormont, Marc

doi:10.3390/su5052233

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The "Pragmatic Collective Interest" as the Product of Civic Deliberation: The Case of Pesticide Management in Belgium

Melard, François; Mormont, Marc

2013 • In Sustainability, 5 (5), p. 2233-2251

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/149396

DOI
10.3390/su5052233

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Keywords :

participatory research; pesticide; food; deliberation; reflexivity; governance

Abstract :

[en] Through the issue of pesticide management in Belgium, this article offers an empirical and conceptual grasp on what Ulrich Beck called the second-order reflexive modernity; that which is exercised among citizens when they are confronted with threatening and uncertain situations. To achieve this, we use two case studies of two public policy instruments, which we offer to the public for discussion: food product labelling, and the modelling of toxic effects linked to pesticide use. To this end, we organised two focus groups designed to encourage discussion, composed of citizens/practitioners. The results obtained plead in favour of a collective deconstruction-reconstruction of these tools and can lead to what we propose calling a “pragmatic collective interest.” This “pragmatic collective interest” can take the form of a new set-up or new associations that enable the coexistence of conflicting propositions and points of view, and a suspension of efforts to hierarchize causes and required solutions.

Disciplines :

Sociology & social sciences

Author, co-author :

Melard, François ; Université de Liège - ULiège > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.) > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.)

Mormont, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > DER Sc. et gest. de l'environnement (Arlon Campus Environ.) > Socio-économie, Environnement et Développement

Language :

English

Title :

The "Pragmatic Collective Interest" as the Product of Civic Deliberation: The Case of Pesticide Management in Belgium

Alternative titles :

[fr] L'intérêt Collectif Pragmatique comme produit de la délibération citoyenne: le cas de la gestion des pesticides en Belgique

Publication date :

16 May 2013

Journal title :

Sustainability

eISSN :

2071-1050

Publisher :

MDPI, Bâle, Switzerland

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

2233-2251

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/5/2233/

Available on ORBi :

since 28 May 2013

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Bibliography

The acronym of the project stands for: "Feasibility of a Participatory Modelling Process for Pesticides Risk Assessment" (cfr. Section 3.2.).
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Van Huylenbroeck, G.; Steurbaut, W.; Mormont, M.; Pussemier, L. Sustainability of Certified Production Systems: The Case of Labels in the Food Sector; Belgian Science Policy: Bruxelles, Belgium, 2006.
Cannell, E. European Famers Plough Ahead. Pesticides News, December 2007.
Phillips, P.W.B.; McNeill, H. Labeling for gm foods: Theory and practice. AgBioForum 2000, 3, 219-224.
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Piñeros Garcet, J.; Deblonde, M.; Mélard, F.; Louviaux, M.; Goorden, L.; Mormont, M. Feasibility of a Participatory Modelling Process for Pesticides Risk Assessment-PEPAM; Research contract N° 0A/00/027; Belgian Science Policy: Brussels, Belgium, 2006; p. 83.
Here are the associated class of pesticides according to thoses compartments : fungicides pose the highest risk for consumer (e.g., thiram, fenpropimorph, epoxiconazole), operator (e.g., fentin hydroxide, mancozeb, fluazinam and an important soil disinfectant is methyl bromide) and earthworms (e.g., mancozeb, fenpropidin, fentin hydroxide); insecticides persuasively for birds (e.g., aldicarb, carbofuran and carbosulfan), bees (e.g., vamidothion, chlorpyrifos, imidacloprid) and aquatic organisms (e.g., flufenoxuron, lindane, endosulfan), and herbicides for groundwater (e.g., lenacil, atrazine, isoproturon) (Vergucht et al. 2007).
Vergucht, S.; Piñeros Garcet, J.; Pussemier, L.; Steurbaut, W. Development of a Pesticide Risk Indicator for the Evaluation of the Belgian Reduction Plan. In Towards a Safer Food Supply in Europe; Van Peteghem, C., de Saeger, S., Daeseleire, E., Eds.; Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO): Brussels, Belgium, 2007.
These decisions are just as much political as they are technical (for example: "Consider solely risks linked to agricultural pesticides", "Zero danger for certain products", "no spatial relationship, no bee displacement, to pesticide displacement", "no ecosystem-type effect").
Thiery, O.; Cerf, M. Penser la Recherche Participative Comme une Pratique-proposition de Diagnostique. In Dynamique des Savoirs, Dynamiques des Changements; Béguin, P., Cerf, M., Eds.; Octarès: Toulouse, France, 2009; pp. 29-50.
We say "opening" insofar as a true democratisation of the technical choices assumes a commitment by the public authorities to take account of these openings (see next section)
The modeller/project initiator gave this introspective work concrete expression by writing a document dozens of pages long, rich in details and reflections. This working document was not published, but has been used in the present section as a source for the quotations. One part of this document is also available in the PEPAM report ("Analysis from a modeller perspective") and in his doctoral thesis, (currently being written).
Which is, in the present case, all the more comfortable since the modeller belongs not to the model conception team (FOCUS-Gw), but to the evaluation team (APECOP scientific consortium).
This link between new learnings in behalf of experts and the manner in which these modify their future practices is rarely discussed (if not with their colleagues in the privacy of their inner sanctums). However, in uncertain situations for which the experts have no readymade solutions to propose, the conditions of their creation, especially of their learning, is essential. What the deliberative focus group enabled to come to light was the character of the posture adopted by the modeller in order to give life to this pragmatic collective interest. Because of the necessary interdependence between experiments conducted in the course of this deliberative focus group, we could say that this pragmatic collective interest is jointly the product of the participants and the modeller, since this collective interest is shared by all members of the deliberative focus group set-up.
Mélard, F. Écologisation: Objets et Concepts Intermédiaires; P.I.E. Peter-Lang: Bruxelles, Belgium, 2008