Effective risk governance for environmental policy making: A knowledge management perspective

Effective risk management within environmental policy making requires knowledge on natural, economic and social systems to be integrated; knowledge characterised by complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. We describe a case study in a (UK) central government department exploring how risk governance supports and hinders this challenging integration of knowledge. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were completed over a two year period. We found that lateral knowledge transfer between teams working on different policy areas was widely viewed as a key source of knowledge. However, the process of lateral knowledge transfer was predominantly informal and unsupported by risk governance structures. We argue this made decision quality vulnerable to a loss of knowledge through staff turnover, and time and resource pressures. Our conclusion is that the predominant form of risk governance framework, with its focus on centralised decision-making and vertical knowledge transfer is insufficient to support risk-based, environmental policy making. We discuss how risk governance can better support environmental policy makers through systematic knowledge management practices.     

Understanding the North–South knowledge divide and its implications for policy: a quantitative analysis of the generation of scientific knowledge in the environmental sciences

The paper investigates the scientific knowledge divide in the environmental sciences between developed and developing countries and explores the implications and impacts on both science and policymaking. Quantitative data analysis of more than 6400 scientific papers published in 1993–2003 yield evidence for a growing divide in authorship, publication rates, and location of scientific research in nine environmental journals with high impact factor ratings. In addition to this severe imbalance in publication rates between developed and developing countries, we also find a research bias toward certain eco-climatic zones. More than 80% of papers are published in and about temperate and cold eco-climatic zones. Only 13% of the papers in our study are based on research in the dry sub-tropical and tropical zones, although these eco-climatic zones account for more than 52% of the world's land area. Based on these results, we discuss how the limited empirical source and focus of environmental research undermine the claims of universality of environmental science and what consequences this may have on policymaking processes at different levels. Finally, we briefly explore some short- and long-term strategies to address the knowledge divide.     

Public attitudes towards policy measures for reducing private car use: evidence from a study in Sweden

In an internet survey, a random sample of 291 university employees living in Gothenburg, Sweden, reported their beliefs and evaluations of the consequences of implementing three travel demand management (TDM) measures varying from less to more coercive. The results showed that respondents differentiated amongst the TDM measures in terms of each measure's expected consequences and that, when combining these beliefs with evaluations, a statistically significant proportion of variance was accounted for in attitudes to the TDM measures. Environmental concern modified several of the effects of consequences on attitudes towards TDM measures, as well as influencing overall attitude. The general and practical implications of these findings for improving attitudes to such policies are also discussed.     

我国的政策分类和政策环评主要对象探讨

对于我国的政策,在广义上可分别从层次和形式的角度进行分类。基于政策分类,我国的政策环评对象在类别上主要是具体政策中的经济政策,在层级上主要是国务院有关部门和县级以上人民政府制定的政策,在性质上是对环境有重大影响的重大政策。再综合考虑现有法规对各类政策在制定程序中的环境影响评估要求,认为应将经济政策中的规范性文件作为政策环评重点对象,将技术标准作为技术政策的主要类型纳入政策环评。为了准确识别政策环评对象,我国还应建立规范的政策环评对象筛选机制。

     

How to be a more effective environmental scientist in management and policy contexts

This paper is intended for young researchers with an environmental conscience, alerting them that a self-centred ecology can work against conservation and other desirable goals. I propose that there is confusion in the biophysical ecologists’ community about the role of knowledge, stemming from several already surpassed beliefs that have been strongly criticized by scholars in the field of science and technology studies. In particular, environmental scientists still often seem trapped in the information deficit model, assuming a linear and unidirectional flow of knowledge from experts to users. This leads to an incomplete understanding and unrealistic expectations of ongoing processes of citizen participation (co-production of knowledge), impatience regarding the speed at which issues can be dealt with by politics, and a fuzzy notion of the role of our convictions regarding the value of nature conservation when we are consulted as experts. I analyse the consequences of disregarding tacit knowledge, i.e. the one knowledge beyond that codified in academic papers and books. I emphasize that preferences and values have a large influence on how we perceive, process, and act (or postpone to act) on information on our non-exclusive roles as scientists, decision makers or citizens. I argue that this is why political and ideological preferences have a large influence not only on which teams are appointed to solve problems, but also on which situations are perceived as problematic and given higher priorities. I include a cheat-sheet to enhance communication with decision-makers and other non-scientists that could prevent environmental zeal to be transformed into society’s annoyance and our eventual irrelevance. I plea for a more realistic attitude towards ecological research, highlighting that in environmental debates we are also long-term stakeholders, and not only casual, external and aseptic observers.     

政策环境影响评价利益相关方分析—以海南省禁塑政策为例

聚焦政策环境影响评价利益相关方,引入利益相关方理论、协同治理理论等有关理论,建立适用于政策环境影响评价的利益相关方分析方法框架,涵盖利益相关方识别、利益相关方参与、利益相关方分析和利益相关方协同,并将其应用于海南省禁塑政策环境影响评价试点利益相关方分析。结果表明：海南省禁塑政策执行给核心利益相关方成本利益带来明显改变,政府主体有较强的动因推动政策执行,但行政成本增加较大;企业主体最主要的成本变化来源于原材料成本增加,农贸市场商户是受政策影响利益损失最大的主体类型,可能会影响政策执行;政府和企业之间的利益冲突构成行为博弈关系,政府对企业违规行为的惩罚力度越高,企业守规的概率就越高,而企业守规的成本增加越大,政府的监管力度也越大;公众主体尤其是价格敏感型消费者,在禁塑政策执行下可能会采取改变生活消费的行为策略,但具体的改变作用有待观察。据此,从利益共荣、成本分摊、利益约束和利益补偿等方面提出促进利益相关方协同的优化对策建议。研究所构建的利益相关方分析方法有助于识别关键利益群体,厘清利益诉求和政策关联,促使各方以可接受的成本推进政策实施并实现环境公共利益的最大化。

     

Integrating high resolution soil data into federal crop insurance policy: Implications for policy and conservation

Well-designed and executed policies are critical for aligning sustainability incentives and enabling future agricultural productivity growth. In the U.S., government-administered crop insurance is the primary direct mechanism through which agriculture is subsidized and represents over $100 billion in liabilities annually. Despite the importance of soil properties in determining crop yield formation and risk, the Government does not consider any soil information in generating premium rates under the Federal Crop Insurance Program. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of integrating high-resolution soil data into modeling of field-level insurance rates in large-scale applications. Here, using the actual distribution of soil quality across crop fields in a high production region, models are developed to incorporate soil data into insurance rates and then evaluated to investigate the magnitude of risk differentials across different soil qualities. These soil-conditioned results were then compared to rates that would have been generated by the Government’s current soil-naïve methodology. This study indicates that the degree to which soils vary within a county is highly significant, leading to rating errors of 200% or greater. Implications of ignoring soil information and operational considerations of modifying this cornerstone program are discussed.     

新农村建设中的环境污染及措施的探讨

近年来,各部门不断加大农村污染防治和生态保护力度,创新农村环保新机制,农村环保工作取得了积极进展,但是一些新旧环境问题依然存在,并制约着农村的可持续发展。文章对农村环境污染的现状、产生污染的原因及解决对策等方面进行了探讨。     

Public policy as a part of transforming energy systems: framing bioenergy in Finnish energy policy

Government interventions have been identified as important for energy systems change, because they can either facilitate or hinder transitions toward more sustainable energy systems. This article analyses how bioenergy options have been framed in Finnish policy strategies and how the framing has changed over time. The empirical material includes the content of 15 government programmes and nine national energy/climate strategies. On the basis of this assessment, both the link between bioenergy framings in strategies and the actual transformation of Finnish bioenergy systems are explored.On the basis of bioenergy framings, the development of energy policy can be divided into three phases: support for domestic energy sources in 1979-1991, support for wood- and industry-based bioenergy in 1992-1998, and diversified bioenergy in the context of climate change in 1999-2010. For two decades, primarily wood-based bioenergy was supported despite alternative technological developments occurring elsewhere. After the turn of the millennium, the importance of climate policy increased and alternative bioenergy sources were raised on the government policy agenda, also resulting in some new policy instruments. Rather than adopting a visionary outlook to guide system transformation, climate and energy policy has strengthened those technological options that have been selected elsewhere. If public policies are to enhance the shift toward low-carbon, sustainable energy systems, they would need to be more comprehensive, be more consistent over time, and emphasise energy use more.     

On the use of systematic reviews to inform environmental policies

Environmental research varies in its methodological quality, degree of bias, and relevance to policy questions. Using this heterogeneous, and sometimes polarised, research to inform environmental policies can be challenging. Policy-making in the healthcare field sometimes uses systematic reviews (SRs) to tackle these issues and present a comprehensive, policy-neutral, transparent and reproducible synthesis of the evidence. However, there is less familiarity with SRs in the environmental field. The aim of this article is to: (1) summarise the process of conducting SRs, using best practice methods from the healthcare field as an example, (2) explain the rationale behind each stage of conducting a SR, and (3) examine the prospects and challenges of using SRs to inform environmental policy. We conclude that existing SR protocols from healthcare can be, and have been, applied successfully to environmental research but some adaptations could improve the process. The literature search stage could be expedited by standardising the reporting and indexing of environmental studies, equivalent to that in the healthcare field. The consistency of the study appraisal stage of SRs could be augmented by refining the existing quality assessment tools used in the healthcare field, enhancing their ability to discriminate quality and risk of bias in non-randomised studies. Ultimately, the strength of evidence within SRs on environmental topics could be improved through more widespread use of randomised controlled trials as a research method, owing to their inherently lower risk of bias when conducted according to best practice.     

Public ecology: an environmental science and policy for global society

Public ecology exists at the interface of science and policy. Public ecology is an approach to environmental inquiry and decision making that does not expect scientific knowledge to be perfect or complete. Rather, public ecology requires that science be produced in collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders in order to construct a body of knowledge that will reflect the pluralist and pragmatic context of its use (decision context), while continuing to maintain the rigor and accountability that earns scientific knowledge its privileged status in contemporary society. As such, public ecology entails both process and content. The process is that of a post-modern scientific method: a process that values the participation of extended peer communities composed of a diversity of research specialists, professional policy-makers, concerned citizens and a variety of other stakeholders. The content of public ecology is a biocultural knowledge of dynamic human ecosystems that directly relates to and results from the participatory, democratic processes that distinguish public ecology as a citizen science. The primary goal of public ecology is to build common ground among competing beliefs and values for the environment. The purpose of this paper is to help unify and establish public ecology as a distinctive approach to environmental science and policy in global society.     

Energy transition towards economic and environmental sustainability: feasible paths and policy implications

This paper focuses on growth feasibility in an era of increasing scarcity of fossil fuels. A stylised dynamic model illustrates the implications of investing in smooth technological progress in the field of renewable energy. Positive rates of GDP growth sustained by fossil fuels entail, on the one hand, more income available for R&D in renewable energy sources, and on the other, an acceleration of the exhaustible resource depletion time. Our model explores such a trade-off and highlights the danger of high growth rates. Policies should target low growth rates, stimulate investment in alternative energy sources and discourage consumption growth.     

Energy transition towards economic and environmental sustainability: feasible paths and policy implications

This paper focuses on growth feasibility in an era of increasing scarcity of fossil fuels. A stylised dynamic model illustrates the implications of investing in smooth technological progress in the field of renewable energy. Positive rates of GDP growth sustained by fossil fuels entail, on the one hand, more income available for R&D in renewable energy sources, and on the other, an acceleration of the exhaustible resource depletion time. Our model explores such a trade-off and highlights the danger of high growth rates. Policies should target low growth rates, stimulate investment in alternative energy sources and discourage consumption growth.     

Low-carbon strategies towards 2050: Comparing ex-ante policy evaluation studies and national planning processes in Europe

The European Union (EU) is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels by 80%–95% in 2050 compared to 1990 levels. Various approaches have been developed to secure and evaluate the progress made towards this objective. To gain insights into how EU Member States are aligning to this collective long-term objective, we systematically compare the planning and ex-ante evaluation processes for five EU countries (respectively Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). The comparative analysis consists of a qualitative comparison of (1) the governance of long-term policy planning and evaluation processes, (2) the national arrangement for quantitative (model-based) ex-ante policy evaluation and (3) the national arrangement for qualitative ex-ante policy evaluation (stakeholder participation). In a second step we conduct a quantitative comparison of national model-based ex-ante evaluation studies to assess the relative differences between the considered routes and the differences across the various countries. Although the five Member States plan policies along the same EU objective, we find a high diversity in how long-term commitments are established, governed and evaluated on the national level. Model-based scenario analyses are commonly used to explore and evaluate the possible national routes towards the EU 2050 objective. However, as these processes mostly concentrate on domestic action, they pay little attention to how domestic policies are affected by, or affecting, other international activities throughout Europe. Hence, current findings suggest that cross-border collaboration and stakeholder participation could further strengthen the analytical understanding of required transformative change in Europe and subsequently lead to a more durable long-term solution over time.     

工业大气污染治理的环境经济政策体系研究

分析了工业能源利用过程中大气污染防治的环境经济政策。从产业结构调整、能效优化、排污管理等层面对现行政策进行梳理和分析,并通过模拟中国不同类型城市的发展情景,提出对应的政策组合选择建议:对于数量扩张型城市,可选择增值税优惠、信贷融资支持政策,鼓励环境友好型、科技创新型产业的发展;对于资源依赖型城市,可选择合理设定资源税从价计征税率,发展排污权交易,辅以能效领跑者制度,引导产业结构调整,鼓励企业提高能效,并对污染物排放进行较为严格的管理;对于综合发展型城市,可推行企业环保信用奖惩机制,充分发挥信用体系在现代经济社会中的重要性,促进企业向环境友好型发展,约束和推动企业兼顾业务拓展和环境责任。     

试论公众参与环境决策

公众参与环境决策的理论和实践在我国还是一个新事物。本文深入探讨了在我国公众参与环境决策的理论依据、法律依据以及现实依据；并从现实的角度对我国公众参与环境决策的作用和现状进行了分析；最后，针对我国公众参与环境决策实践过程中存在的问题提出了加强环保知识宣传，完善环境立法以及扩展环境知情权等四点进一步促进我国公众参与环境决策的对策。     

区域土地可持续利用与环境政策-体化

可持续发展应分阶段、分层次地进行，为增强区域土地可持续利用，相关环境政策的制定遵循可持续发展的原则，提出了区域土地可持续利用的评价流程与环境政策形成的循环模式；介绍了国外区域开发环境影响评价的研究进展及区域环境管理规划的主要内容；分析了这一领域的相关法律问题并提出了建议。     

Examining the determinants of public environmental concern: Evidence from national public surveys

Early research showed that citizens’ environmental concern in the United States was linked to three individual-level factors: socio-demographic variables, political orientations, and personal beliefs or worldviews about human-nature relations. Given many changes in the American society over the last several decades, one important, yet unanswered question is whether these factors still drive public environmental concern in the United States today, and if so, to what extent. This study, drawing from extant theoretical and empirical studies, aims to reinvestigate the determinants of citizens’ environmental concern by employing three national public surveys conducted in 2004, 2007, and 2013. Our data analyses confirm and expand the findings of previous research on the significance and importance of political ideology, fundamental beliefs about human-nature relations, and certain socioeconomic factors such as gender and race in explaining citizens’ environmental concern. More specifically, political liberals, people with higher New Ecological Paradigm values, females, and Non-Whites tend to be more concerned about environmental problems than their counterparts are. Our data analyses also reveal some interesting findings when compared to many previous studies: first, our data indicate a positive relationship between age and environmental concern, suggesting that older people in the United States are more concerned about the environment than younger adults; second, unlike most past research showing a positive Education-Environmental Concern relationship, our study suggests that education level seems to have little effect in explaining citizens’ environmental concern measured in this study. Key implications for environmental policymaking and recommendations for future research are discussed in the conclusion.     

Stakeholders and environmental management systems: a synergistic influence on environmental imbalance

This article analyzes the combined effects of stakeholder pressure and the implementation of environmental management systems on organizations’ environmental behaviors. Beyond their individual effects, the implementation of an environmental management system should enhance the effect of stakeholder pressure on environmental imbalance, defined as the divergence between what the organization does and what it should do. Information collected from 3748 industrial plants in seven countries provides empirical evidence that supports the study propositions. Therefore, this study contributes to both the debate about the effectiveness of environmental management systems and the effort to explain the complex relationship between organizations and their stakeholders in environmental matters.