WS1 evaluation of methodology, protocols and case studies, with stakeholder recommendations

The BESAFE project organized its first stakeholder meeting at INBO in Brussels on 23 and 24 May 2013. Committed stakeholder involvement is central to BESAFE’s success, and the intention of this first workshop was to get initial feedback as well as to involve stakeholders in a brainstorm about the requirements for the practical use of, and access to, our future results. Initial results and the chosen framework and case study setup were presented at the start of the workshop. Stakeholders were then asked about their own experiences with argumentation and their views on the possible formats and uses for BESAFE results. The major recommendations were to concentrate our effort on people arguing for biodiversity to make sure to use the right ‘tailored’ approach and language for different user groups, and to advise the right combination of arguments for different situations. Stakeholders also emphasized not to forget that people relate to biodiversity in emotional as well as rational ways, and that the process of developing coalitions and collaborations needs time to run its course. The recommended tailored approach should especially take effect in the BESAFE web tool, in the development of which nearly all stakeholders are interested in taking part.