ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a plural rationality approach to stakeholder consultation and engagement conducted as part of a pilot environmental program. The aim was to reduce domestic dog and koala interactions in a local government area in Australia. According to the plural rationality approach, any social domain consists of a dynamic mix of a limited number of socially constructed archetypal stakeholder perspectives. Applied to the environmental issue in this case study, plural rationalities provided a point of reference for constructing and understanding stakeholders’ ways of interpreting and representing ideas about the issue. The steps in the method were to identify stakeholder perspectives, co-produce options, discuss options in working groups, and arrive at a clumsy compromise proposal. Respect for the plurality of perspectives among stakeholders is fundamental in enabling relevant practical suggestions for how to tackle the main barriers to local behaviour change. Applying a plural rationality approach to stakeholder engagement in this case was pivotal in developing a clumsy compromise strategy that aligned with divergent stakeholder values.
