Cooperative environmental governance and waste-to-energy technologies in Asia

The concept of cooperative environmental governance has been proposed as a means of increasing citizens' participation in environmental policy and technological choice in order to make policy processes more deliberative and socially inclusive. This paper critically analyzes the concept in relation to cases of waste management and waste-to-energy investment in the Philippines and India, and especially the choice between the technologies of incineration, pyrolysis and biomethanation. The paper argues that, despite much progress towards local inclusion, there is still too much optimism about the ability for local people to influence technological choice, and powerful actors can shape the identities and roles played by local people. Consequently, cooperative environmental governance needs to incorporate a greater political understanding of how and by whom technological debates are framed, using insights from discursive politics.