Improving Environmental Decision‐Making Through Integrated Governance, Public Engagement, and Translational Approaches

As reflected by the 2019 ESA meeting theme “Bridging communities and ecosystems: inclusion as an ecological imperative,” it is clear that ecology is increasingly recognizing the importance of effective community engagement. Community engagement is not a recent approach, particularly from the disciplinary perspectives of urban and regional planning, public policy, and law (Arnstein 1969). Within the discipline of ecology, there are a wide range of approaches when it comes to community engagement (Whitmer et al. 2010, Pandya 2012, Enquist et al. 2017). Community engagement in and of itself does not necessarily result in improved decision‐making and policy nor does it necessarily make the process inclusive (Quick and Feldman 2011). Therefore, the specific approaches used in community engagement is a point of debate (Day 1997), causing a push to focus on collaborative, mutually beneficial engagement approaches (Innes and Booher 2005, Norstr？m et al. 2020). With a multitude of community engagement initiatives within and across disciplines, our symposium aimed to bring together academics and practitioners, each working from a unique perspective in environmental decision‐making, to improve community engagement initiatives. Prior to the symposium, we generated a shared list of definitions (Box 1) to facilitate cross‐disciplinary communication. At the symposium, panelists shared perspectives on (1) the role of law (Barb Cosens) and nonprofits (Liza Mitchell) in environmental governance; (2) methods and lessons learned from inclusive environmental decision‐making, including Joint Fact‐Finding (Todd Schenk), Resilience Justice (Tony Arnold), and Co‐Production (Kirsten Schwarz and Steven Mathisen) approaches; and (3) training the next generation of translational ecologists (Marja Bakermans). During the synthesis discussion, panelists identified the first steps they take in initiating a new community engagement program: observe, design process, build relationships, and develop partnerships, and five key ingredients for inclusive community engagement are as follows: listen, show up, follow up, connect to the issue, and trust (Fig. 1). Resilience science describes how complex adaptive systems change through time, but Resilience Justice moves beyond that idea to facilitate more inclusive community engagement. For example, social justice and injustice need to be brought to the forefront of adaptive governance and resilience assessments (Arnold et al. 2017). Resilience Justice focuses on capacity building, empowerment, and systemic change through co‐production and