Trust, public participation and environmental governance in Hong Kong

Abstract This paper explores the role of trust in environmental governance and its role in facilitating collective action through public participation in making decisions on environmental policies in Hong Kong. Opinions from key stakeholders with regard to the environmental performance of the Hong Kong government and public participation in Hong Kong were collected. Their opinions help to explain the hypothesized ‘trust deficit’ in Hong Kong. A trust‐based framework was used to identify the appropriate stakeholder participation strategy for environmental governance in Hong Kong. Given that the level of trust in experts, trust between stakeholders and trust in government decision‐makers are all low, a deliberation strategy using professional facilitation is recommended in implementing public participation in Hong Kong to rebuild trust. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.