Stakeholder engagement in a participatory assessment is about involving a limited number of individuals who are invited to speak on behalf of different social interest groups. There are many ways to involve stakeholders at different stages of the assessment. One is the forum in which managers, scientists and stakeholders share their views on the ‘issue’ to be assessed and all contribute to the completion of the assessment.

The objective is not so much to create a consensus, but rather to understand each other’s arguments and share the logic of reasoning. If there are postures, let the reasons for these postures be made explicit and thus transform the role playing into a real exchange.