Title: MODULE 9: LINKING INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TO POLICY
1MODULE 9LINKING INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL
ASSESSMENT TO POLICY
2Introduction
- This module shows you how to link SOE reporting
to policy formulation, the major objective of
IEA. The module discusses - The various types of policy
- Interlinkages which should be observed and
conflicts which should be avoided in policy - Environmental policy analysis
3The place of policy formulation in IEA
- Within the overall sequence of questions/steps,
policy formulation comes after knowing the state
of the environment (i.e. what is happening). - We ask the following questions (see next slide)
- How are current policies affecting the state of
the environment (under Question 1)? - Do the current policies contribute to what is
happening? - What policies are in place that are intended to
deal with the current environmental issues and
how effective are they (under Question 3)? - What alternative actions could be taken (under
Question 5)?
4Showing the place of current policy analysis in
IEA
5Environmental policy as rules to use the physical
environment
- Environmental policies stand as rules governing
the interaction between human beliefs, values and
ideas, and the physical environment - They provide guidelines on how to use the
physical environment within the values of a
social group. - May be used to direct a community to use the
physical environment wisely within rules that
will promote sustainable development. - Often, the progression is from rules that
discourage bad practices to those that seek
compliance with good practices.
6Showing the place of environmental policies
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7Types of policies
- Policies may be categorized according to the
way they are formed - Routine policies formulated through routine,
deliberate and slow progression of the normal
steps. - Urgent reactive policies formulated outside the
normal process, commonly to solve a crisis or
emergencies (e.g. flood, drought). - Grey zone policies not backed by documentation
but used as if they do. May evolve to routine
policies over time. -
- All policies, however formed, should be
subjected to assessment to judge how they impact
on the environment
8Nested Policies
- Policies addressing the same issue may be
nested with narrowly focussed policies linked to
a series of broader policies. The nesting may be
within a country or from a global to a local
level. - Global level general agreement of what the
rules should be may be included in a convention.
Gaps of countries which may not sign may be
expected. - Regional level interests are likely to be more
similar, but still gaps may be expected. - National policy has different enforcement rules
and all are expected to abide by the policy - Sub-national/local very detailed regulations
and enforcement
9An example of nested policies from global to
local
10Uncoordinated policies may conflict
- The environment is ONE and all policies on it
are interlinked. Coordination among policies is
essential. But this may be difficult to sustain
for many reasons - Governments may have competing responsibilities
which may conflict with promoting a sustainable
environment within the limitations of their
resources (e.g. job creation, food production,
etc.). - Hangover from the past when environmental
policies may not have been directed at
sustainable development - Opportunists may hijack or misdirect some good
environmental policies where institutions of law
enforcement are weak or uninformed
11Botswanas conflicting environmental policies in
the 1970s and 1980s
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12Environmental policy analysis
- Consists of evaluating current set of policies
for a particular issue with the intention of
improving its effectiveness. - Part of a cyclical and continuous process by
which policy may be improved - Evaluate what policies currently exist
- Identify where such policies fall short of what
is required in promoting sustainable development - Determine what adjustments are required on
existing policies and what new policies are
needed to make the set of policies under analysis
more effective
13Step 1 Identify and list current environmental
policies and legislation
- Broadly Identify policies relevant to the issue
of interest - Decide on a consistent criteria for selecting
policies to include in a current environmental
policy analysis, e.g. relevance to the public and
decision-makers. Criteria will depend on
individual circumstances. - Consider in your criteria some international
obligations relevant to the issue of analysis - Select a manageable number of the available
policies to be included in the analysis in a
holistic manner by determining which of the
policies have the potential to have a direct
impact on the issues of concern.
14Step 2 Identify performance criteria for the
selected key policies
- A policy should have an in-built performance
criteria at its formulation, but sometimes this
is not the case - Criteria developed may be general and descriptive
or specific and quantitative. Some examples - Threshold a value may be identified beyond which
an environmental system may be self-sustaining - Benchmark evaluation of the performance of an
environmental system may be based on relative
performance when compared to known best cases
under similar circumstances
15Step 3 Evaluate selected policies
- Ideally, expectations should be outlined at
policy formulation in which case - Expectations will be used to judge system
performance for outcomes (next slide) - Analysis may be made to evaluate whether original
expectations were realistic or if either
expectations or the system need to be adjusted - Where expectations were not outlined originally,
policy performance is carried out on key
variables selected in Step 1 using criteria
determined in Step 2
16Comparing expected performance with actual
performance of an environmental system