Who are the stakeholders in environmental risk decisions?

In this talk, I discuss the concept of 'stakeholder involvement' in environmental decisions, including but not limited to radioactive waste management decisions. As a prelude, I mention ways in which public participation opportunities have been expanded but still remain deficient in two key respects. These deficiencies have opened the door for stakeholder involvement. Stakeholder involvement has, over the past decade, been touted as an approach (perhaps the approach) to more egalitarian, interactive environmental decisions that take into account different interests and perspectives. After mentioning two key dimensions of environmental decisions - their spatial and temporal reach - I consider the extent to which different types of stakeholders can and should be centrally involved in various decisions. I conclude with a plea for the need to down-play the notion of 'stakeholders', especially on decisions whose impacts will extend far across space and time. Instead, especially on such decisions, we need to cultivate the notion of our shared responsibility to serve as trustees, putting aside our vested interests and deliberating together iteratively on the best ways to achieve the long-term common good. (author)