In accordance with the chosen objectives, all stakeholders should be sensitizedto their importance. Topics could include sustainable use of natural
resources, ecosystem services or high conservation value areas and disaster risk management as well as economic development and improvement
of infrastructure and services. It is important to create an understanding
of each other’s priorities in order to achieve ownership of the common
objectives.
Entering into a dialogue with the participants: the dialogue with stakeholders requires profound knowledge and empathy. In discussions with
the groups of land users affected, it cannot be assumed that already in the
beginning of the dialogue, aspects such as ecology or landscape rehabilitation will be seen as a priorities. Experience has shown that it is not opportune to discuss primarily environmental aspects. The destruction of land
resources is often not perceived as important but rather life-threatening
problems rank foremost. Small farmers in Uttar Pradesh/India are not going to change their cultivation practices only to protect the Ganges delta
at Bengal from silting up further, even though this would be highly recommendable from a superior point of view. The aim, therefore, is to find
initial points from which effective economic advantages can be expected
in the shortest possible time, thus providing the land users with effective
incentives to protect the delta. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to
understand how the land users perceive the world around them.
Assessment of the institutional capacities: to be successful, land use planning needs to be integrated into the institutions responsible for it. Therefore, a thorough analysis of the existing institutional capacities needs to
be done to identify a) the right institution(s) with an official mandate for
land use planning and b) the need for capacity development. Based on this
assessment a capacity development concept can be developed, including