POLICY MAKING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT A brief introduction.

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POLICY MAKING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTA brief
introduction.

• Michael D. Lee Ph.D.
• Dept. Geography Environmental Studies

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Policy and its purpose

• A public policy is a pattern of governmental
  activity on some issue that has a purpose or
  goal.
• A sustainable development policy is a conscious
  decision to adopt a particular strategy or
  practice within a program of development (urban,
  industry, agricultural and so forth) that can
  yield positive benefits for a given populace and
  be maintained over time while at the same time
  avoiding or minimizing negative effects at a
  broader scale.
• Policys must articulate both the ends and the
  means i.e. state the set of objectives and
  prescribe the ways in which those objectives are
  to be achieved.

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Policymaking

• Policies are made, i.e. they are formulated - by
  policy makers.
• In democracies, public policy makers are usually
  elected officials, or appointees of elected
  officials, e.g. Congressmen, Senators, Governors
  or their Appointees EPA Director, Secretary of
  Energy, etc.
• In the private sector, policy makers are CEOs and
  Boards of Directors and other top-ranking
  corporate officials.
• Policy Makers are influenced by special
  interests, entities who do not have the power to
  make or enforce policy themselves but
  nevertheless seek to help establish what a
  particular policy will be out of their own
  interests or for the interests of third parties.

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External Influences on Policy Making

• Special interests are lobbyists, political action
  committees, individual/corporate donors,
  non-Governmental organizations, protest groups
  and so forth. They use access, money, publicity,
  even violence to influence policy makers.
• A third group important in setting policy are the
  technical advisors, sometimes called social
  agents, that perform a (supposedly) impartial
  function in advising and informing policy makers
  on the likely effects of their policies.
• In democratic settings, a forth group that
  influences decisions are the general public, who
  are frequently consulted to comment on policies
  that affect them before final decisions are made.

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Policies a basis for judgment

• Once declared, a policy becomes a set of guiding
  principles that are used to shape what we do and
  become standards by which we and others can judge
  our behavior and performance.
• Whether a public policy is followed and
  effectively implemented depends on a variety of
  factors including
• who is the actor?
• whether they stand to gain or lose from the
  required actions?
• whether the implementation of required actions is
  monitored and if so, whether they are enforced?
• whether enforcement is based on sanctions or
  inducements sufficiently large to motivate
  compliance?

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Policies and Practices

• Sustainable development policies dictate what
  governments must do and what citizens and
  corporations must do to protect the public
  interest and promote welfare for present and
  future generations, usually also safeguarding the
  interests and welfare of others affected by the
  policies.
• Frequently, for economic or ideological reasons,
  particular entities (nations, corporations,
  individuals, etc.) will seek to avoid
  implementing the actions necessary to achieve the
  policy objectives with which they must comply,
  especially when incentives are weak.
• Thus effective policy frequently needs to be
  accompanied by enforcement.
• Enforcement is commonly the weakest element in
  the policy process, leading to failed
  implementation.

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Examples of SD policies?

• Without passing value judgments, here are some
  policies that might be considered SD examples
• Swedens tax structure changing from taxing wages
  to taxing consumption, especially consumption
  with high external costs (e.g. carbon taxes on
  energy).
• Chinas demographic policy of promoting 1 child
  per couple through incentives/disincentives.
• Californias policy to require only 1.6 gallon
  toilets be sold in California and making these
  mandatory as part of the Uniform Plumbing Code.
• Clearly, some policies may be imperfect in that
  they may lead to perverse conditions (e.g.
  Chinas infanticide/selective abortions of
  girls).
• Policies should be viewed as to their overall
  impacts from a social, economic and environmental
  perspective and balanced as best as possible.

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The sustainability triangle ()
0
100
The
Environmental goals
Economic goals
50
50
Redrawn as a graph.
The policy sweet spot
0
100
100
0
50
Social goals
Each axis of the sustainability triangle shows
the degree to which economic, social and
environmental goals are being satisfied. Due to
trade-offs between each, no single aspect can be
maximized, so instead, any policy outcome must
provide a balance (hit the sweet spot!).
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Relevant Reading (among others)

• Assigned reading Integrating Economy, Society,
  and Environment through Policy Assessment. Peter
  Boothroyd. Pages 130-165 in Woollard I. et al
  2000. Fatal Consumption. UBC Press, Vancouver.
• Optional reading(request a copy from M. Lee if
  you are interested)
• Environmental Policy Making What have economic
  analysis and the idea of sustainability got to
  offer? Paul Ekins. Pages 35-57 in Redclift M.
  (ed) 2000. Sustainability Life Chances and
  Livelihoods. Routledge Sahl J.D. and Bernstein
  B.B. 1995. Developing policy in an uncertain
  world. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol. 2 (1995)
  124-135.
• Various chapters in Rao P.K. 1999. Sustainable
  Development Economics and Policy. Blackwell
  Publishers, London. and/or Moffatt I. 1996.
  Sustainable Development Principles, Analysis and
  Policies. Parthenon Publishing, New York.