DEMETRA

The climate crisis requires fundamental transformation processes in all areas of life. At the same time, right-wing extremist and populist movements are increasingly making it clear that parts of society feel ignored by politicians and radically reject the upcoming transformations. In response to these multiple crises, it is important to actively involve as many citizens as possible in the transformation processes.

The DEMETRA project involving seven European countries is analysing processes of citizen participation that aim to give all parts of society a political voice. What opportunities do these deliberative participatory processes (DPP) offer and what challenges do they pose? The researchers are initially focussing on DPPs in the food system. In a next step, DEMETRA will provide recommendations for action and tools for other areas to enable democratic governance of the sustainability transformation at EU, state and municipal level.