Lesson 3: Risk Communication and Plant Protection

Topic 3: Consensus Communication

The purpose of consensus communication is to build a consensus between different parties about how to manage a specific risk or situation. It is particularly useful for addressing risk issues that are troublesome, controversial, or divisive. It is also useful when risk issues are not well understood by experts or lay people, and concern exotic, involuntary, or catastrophic risks. Finally, consensus communication helps settle disagreements that arise when between experts on the magnitude of risk for a given activity or hazard.

Objective:

  • Discuss the concepts of consensus communication and their application when designing a risk communication campaign to protect plants

nuclear and chemical industries

Situations that call for care or crisis communication will often have clearly identified hazards, well-described risks, and understandable risk management options. In both cases, the objective of risk communication is to motivate the audience to modify their behavior or to take action in order to reduce a risk. Consensus communication is the third type of risk communication that NPPOs might undertake. This type of communication is very different from both crisis and care communication, where the purpose is to persuade stakeholders to adopt or modify their behavior in response to a risk. In consensus communication, the primary objective is to include stakeholders in the risk analysis process. Additionally, stakeholders may or may not be responsible for taking action or modifying their behavior.

When to Use Consensus Communication

Consensus communication involves communicating about a risk to bring a number of parties or stakeholders to consensus on the nature of the risk and on how to manage it. Consensus communication can be useful throughout the risk analysis process, from the assessment stage through risk management. It is particularly useful in situations where:

  • The hazard is troublesome, controversial, or divisive
  • The hazard is considered exotic, involuntary, or catastrophic
  • The risk associated with the hazard is not well understood by experts and/or laypeople
  • There is disagreement between experts on the magnitude of risks for a given activity
  • Stakeholders have a greater understanding of the nature of the risk than the organization do
  • Considerable levels of uncertainty exist that need to be resolved or addressed

Stakeholder input and/or buy-in for a particular risk management strategy is essential.

Interpretations can vary between experts even though it is the same scientific information. This is because risk analysis frequently deals with much uncertainty. When uncertainty is ignored or not correctly addressed during risk communication, non-technical stakeholder audiences can become hostile, confused, and lose trust in regulatory agencies. In these circumstances, it is especially important to develop a risk communication plan where uncertainty is clearly communicated to the stakeholders. Likewise, some activities that are clearly beneficial to some groups can create risks for others groups who may or may not see any benefits arising from the activity. This is another important factor to consider in both the risk communication plan and in the risk management and decision making stages.

Unlike care or crisis communication, consensus communication relies heavily on effective information exchange between the communicators (senders, transmitters) and the audience (receivers). A common method of consensus communication is conducting a public hearing. Any interested stakeholder can attend the public hearing and provide comments or feedback on an activity or issue. A similar method of consensus communication is a stakeholder participation meeting. In a participation meeting, representatives of various groups are invited to participate in a forum to address a particular problem. There is a potential problem with both of these approaches to consensus communication. These approaches might be implemented some time after the risk assessment process has started. This may result in receiving feedback after all of the risk management decisions have already been made.

Under these circumstances, the purpose of communicating is to persuade the stakeholders to agree with those creating the risk in the first place. The stakeholders can become hostile if they feel their concerns were not taken into account. They might lose faith in the communication process, and, in some cases, the communication might bring about additional problems. It is important to ensure that stakeholder or audience participation takes place as early as possible, and that it continues throughout the process.

Before Using a Consensus Communication Plan

As with other forms of risk communication, the NPPO should consider several factors before deciding to implement a consensus communication plan to address a particular problem. These factors include:

  • timing (short and long-term options)
  • who should be targeted (e.g., grower groups, public interest groups, etc.)
  • types of consultative processes (e.g., public hearing, open or closed forum, internet survey)
  • venues for public consultations
  • who will deliver information (expert panels, agency communication specialists, etc.)
  • modes of information delivery (need for brochures, pamphlets, or more detailed documents)
  • mechanisms for audience feedback
  • how to ensure that audience response is incorporated into the process

When using this type of risk communication, it is essential to ensure that stakeholder participation takes place as early as possible, and continues throughout the process. The most successful consensus communication campaigns include stakeholders throughout the entire risk analysis process, from early on in the risk assessment stage through risk management.

Consensus Communication Example

The “Public Forum on Plant Molecular Farming” is an example of effective NPPO consensus communication. Click through the slides below for a brief overview of this example.

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Consensus communication is very different than crisis and care communication. Its purpose is not to persuade stakeholders of the risk, nor is it to necessarily convince them to adopt a particular risk management behavior. Instead, the primary objective of consensus communication is to include stakeholders in the risk analysis process. The most successful consensus communication campaigns include stakeholders throughout the entire risk analysis process, from early on in the risk assessment stage through risk management.

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