�������Covid-19 & Nuclear post-accident situations�as “Large Threats Compromising Life“ �Some lessons on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention � �

Gilles Hériard-Dubreuil

Mutadis, Nuclear Transparency Watch

Summary

• Characterizing the Covid situation and the post-nuclear accident as Large Threats Compromising Life (LTCL)
• Examining how Public Policies address the LTCL challenges and how they can be counterproductive
• The Aarhus Convention as a resource to improve LTCL's decision-making and public policies

1 - Characterizing the Covid situation and the post-nuclear accident as Large Threats Compromising Life (LTCL)�

Characterisation of the events

• COVID: Worldwide pandemic, successive waves of unknown variants, high rate of casualties with huge impact on life & subsistence
• Nuclear: Large scale accident with important radioactive releases resulting in wide, discontinuous, far reaching & long-term pollution severely impacting living conditions on the long term

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Large Threat Compromising Life (LTCL)

• A sudden (large scale and severe) threat (or risk) on the health of individuals, correlated with individual/social behaviours, severely compromising daily life and subsistence of individuals and communities

Common characteristics of Large Threats Compromising Life

• All dimensions of life affected, shaken
• Uncertainty (on the nature/scale of the threat, on the future, on future living conditions)
• Entail complex multidimensional challenges entangling various (conflicting) dimensions such as :
1. Health Protection (HP) and Social Life, HP and subsistence,
2. HP and economy / jobs,
3. Education, school, HP, impact on parents, on their job,…

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Public Policies need to balance the need for objective simple criteria with complexity of life and variety of contexts

Centralised Decision-making by public authorities

Ability of people to make informed choices, decentralized

Governance & Decision Making

Management guidelines

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Standards defined according to a universal model

Variations according to local contexts

Function of the Standard (S1) :

Mediation between people and reality, the standard acts as a risk marker for the population (risk/no risk)

Function of the standard (S2) :

Direct access by people to the complex reality,

the standard is an element of reference among others in a decision-making process

Fixed rules/ no foreseen change over time

Open and adaptive changes to evolutions with time

Uncertainty

Coping with complexity of life

Health Protection

Trade-off between multiple priorities of life

A challenge: Setting standards balancing risk mitigation while preserving other essential aspects of life

• Risk standards embed complex expertise trade-offs between protection and other priorities
• Risk standards tend to be abusively turned into 0/1, life/death, risk/no risk, go/no go indicators by subsequent users (to start with the administrative chain)
• Non-experts people need standards to orient their decisions but are often trapped into simplistic representation of the reality.
• It can be very counterproductive when coming to the real complex life, when new trade-off need to be tuned between protective measures and other essential aspects associated with the restoration of life
• There are Citizens available to enter the complexity of such decisions,
• Structured dialogue of diversified expertise is an asset

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2 - Examining how Public Policies address the LTCL challenges and how they can be counterproductive�

Don’t worry, normality is just around the Corner !

Risk Management policies aim at restoring social trust and confidence by containing risk-exposure into Normative Standards

It is aiming at Return to Normality

• Large Threat Compromising Life affect multiple aspects of life (not only Health)
• Soon, temporary consequences appear as long term & irreversible detriment,
• Focus on risk reduction produces shrunken life
• Life will no more be the same
• Return to Normality soon appears an unreachable goal
• The problem is more to produce a life that is worth to live, according to a New Standards of Normality,

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In the context of Large Threat Compromising Life,�Governments and Experts tend to take control of everyday life

• Security becomes the overriding priority,
• Essential aspects of life seem dismissed as accessories (social life, culture, religion, burial,…)
• Uncertainties, scientific controversies & rumours undermine social trust
• Frequent changes of Public Policies (as a result of running uncertainty, of trade-off of HP with other impacted aspects of life) creates incomprehension in the public
• People experiment disorientation, isolation, disarray
• They loss control on their own life

Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister, New Zealand

�“This stage of the pandemic is different from what we have faced so far. Omicron is more transmissible and therefore more difficult to control. But, as before, the Covid is changing, we are changing.

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January 2022

A spontaneous flowering of Guidelines issued by Public Administrations

• Advising people on the day-to-day organisation of their life
• Aiming at reducing the risk but also extending to other kind of behavioural control
• With detailed recommendation on the many aspect of ordinary life

Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (France)

01/03/2021

Is it possible to practice outdoor physical activity?

“It is possible, and in general, it is even advisable to have physical activities in the open air. It is recommended to follow the instructions of the public authorities concerning the access to the places of practice of a physical activity. "

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Is it possible to go to work, visit relatives, go shopping?

“It is quite possible to move (by car, on foot or by bike) in the unrestricted areas to get to work or for any personal travel. It is recommended to follow the instructions of the public authorities concerning the places subject to restriction. "

Can we go to public gardens and places to walk?

“Unless otherwise indicated, it is possible to visit the gardens and places open to the public. If necessary, outdoor urban public spaces (parks and gardens, sports grounds, schoolyards, sandboxes, squares, roads and paths) are decontaminated by the public authorities. "

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French Government Secretariat on Equality between men and women

07/04/2020

This guide has been produced to support confined parents in their reconciliation between professional and family life on a daily basis

Take height!

• First, set up and implement an organization at your place of confinement, which adapts to the needs of everyone,...
• Then establish an action plan, step by step,…
• Crisis is a great time to bring out the “entrepreneur“ that is in us!

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No pressure !

• Do not be more demanding than the situation requires…
• Exceptionally, allow your children to invade the living room with their toys, taking physical training with gymnastic TV program
• Share cuddly moments with them without counting.
• When you bake a chocolate cake, let them lick the spoon!

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�What are we watching on TV?

Television is a wonderful tool for escaping and leave the anxiety-provoking atmosphere associated with coronavirus.

• Take the opportunity to discover or rediscover the films that have marked the cinema.
• To start a series from the start,…, watch with family program or replay show.

Political side-effects of those guidelines

• Patronising people
• Placing Public Recommendations as the central standard for organising their life and meaning
• Encapsulating life into a risk avoidance perspective
• Creating a disempowering environment

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3 - The Aarhus Convention as a resource to improve LTCL's decision-making and public policies�

Where the Aarhus Convention comes into play (1)

The purpose of the Aarhus Convention is to enhance the quality of decisions :

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Recognizing that, in the field of the environment, improved access to information and public participation in decision-making enhance the quality and the implementation of decisions, contribute to public awareness of environmental issues, give the public the opportunity to express its concerns and enable public authorities to take due account of such concerns,

Where the Aarhus Convention comes into play (2)

Large Threat Compromising Life (LTCL) cause irreversible changes to life conditions:

• Neither can LTCL be dealt without by State Intervention
• Nor can they be dealt with without people’s capacity to engage with complex choices

The Implementation of the Aarhus Convention necessitates :

• Public participation in Public Policy Setting
• Need for new types of policies based on subsidiarity,

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The Aarhus Convention advocates for a policy environment based on subsidiarity

• Relying on peoples’ capacity to contribute to build their own security at individual, community, and professional levels) rather than invading ordinary life with detailed prescriptions
• Giving room to a plurality of views on risk
• Creating conditions for people to rebuild their own life as whole (incorporating various priorities of life)

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Enabling environment (capacitation) for people to reach effective satisfaction of essential needs

Social Trust / Ability to act with others

Recognition of Peoples’ Integrity & capacity of people to conduct their pathway of recovery

Territorial and cultural anchoring of individuals and communities

Access to reliable information

Effective ability to build meaning

Effective capacity to act on and benefit from institutional environment

Aarhus Convention

Democratic Culture

The Dignified Living Conditions Enabling Recovery TERRITORIES R&D Project (EU)

Time

Individual

Common

Collective

Meaning

Resources

Action

Symbolic and spiritual resources

Innovation and learning, the lessons of Classical Athens

• What is Athenian democracy’s unique contribution to its remarkable success in achieving prosperity and security?
• The city-state is managed and organized in order to allow aggregation and distribution of knowledge among its citizens.
• The fundamental role of individuals in the construction of the common good at all scales is recognized, including even within the most individual uses and practices.
• The Athenian Council is allowing individuals to promote the cognitive performance of the community through their initiatives
• Democratic participation and deliberation consume state resources and social energy.
• But the benefits of a well-designed democracy far outweigh its costs.

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Josiah Ober, Democracy and Knowledge, Innovation and learning in Classical Athens, Princeton University (2010)