E-Participation and Environmental Protection: Are Local Governments Really Committed?

摘要

Local governments have adopted a narrow approach to the implementation of environmental e-participation initiatives, using their Web sites mainly as a public relations tool. As a consequence, they are missing out on opportunities to make use of the Internet to promote e-participation and citizen engagement in environmental protection. All of this shows that previous studies focusing only on membership in environmental associations may have overlooked the real commitments resulting from these memberships. As membership does not equal action, it is necessary to evaluate local government developments so as to identify best practices and determine local governments' levels of commitment.