Better regulation by new governance hybrids? Governance models and the reform of European chemicals policy

The EU is presently in a transition phase from environmental policy-making by law towards other governance approaches based upon networking, voluntary commitments, benchmarking and other forms of “soft law”. Those new governance approaches often claim to lead to “better regulation”, while adopting a more consensus-oriented and participatory style, taking economic aspects more seriously into account, allowing for more flexibility and autonomy for the private sector and Member States alike, mobilising a broader knowledge base or adopting more integrated and holistic approaches than previous sectoralised and compartmentalised policies.While the limitations of traditional regulatory approaches are widely accepted and cited, it is far from evident, that “new modes of governance” have greater capacity to solve problems than the old ones. There is an argument, that “better regulation” might by synonymous to a withdrawal and weakening of the regulatory state and hence effectively of the aspirations and objectives of environmental policies.An interesting case for an approach, combining the strengths of the old and the new approaches is the ongoing reform of chemicals policies. While some observers claim, that the proposed directive, “REACH” might belong to the outdated category of overcomplex and bureaucratic regulation, a closer look shows that there are many new forms of governance in REACH. This mixture or old and new may open a more realistic and promising perspective on the reform of European policy-making.In our paper we assess the effects and the interplay of the combination of different modes of governance using the example of REACH. We are particularly concerned with the question in how far the representation of interests may change when new modes of governance are introduced.     

Motivations and barriers for Western Australian broad-acre farmers to adopt carbon farming

Carbon farming policies aim to contribute to climate change mitigation, but their success strongly depends on whether landholders actually adopt desired practices or participate in offered programs. The Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative and Emissions Reduction Fund policies were designed to incentivise the adoption of carbon farming practices. Although these policies have been active since December 2011, farmer engagement has been limited, and net emissions reductions low as a result. We surveyed broad-acre farmers in the Western Australian wheatbelt to explore their drivers and barriers to adopting carbon farming practices and participating in carbon farming policy programs. Drivers of adoption included knowledge and perception of co-benefits (for yield, productivity, and the environment), knowing another adopter, and believing that changes to farm management are an appropriate method to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Barriers to adoption included lack of information, uncertainty and costs. The key barrier to participation was policy and political uncertainty. The determinants of adoption and participation that we identify in our study offer important insights into how to best ensure the success of Australia’s land sector-based climate change policies. We conclude that, to increase landholder engagement, the co-benefits and climate change benefits of carbon farming practices must be actively promoted, and additional information is needed about the costs associated with adoption. Information diffusion is best achieved if it actively leverages landholder social networks. Finally, our results indicate that landholder buy-in to carbon farming could be greatly enhanced by achieving more continuity in Australian climate change policies and politics.     

基于31个省份事件史分析的河长制创新与扩散的影响因素

利用事件史分析（EHA）模型对河长制政策2010～2016年在省级层面的扩散进行实证研究,结果表明：水污染越是严重的地区,越倾向于采纳河长制,平均而言,人均水污染排放量每增加一个单位,一个省份河长制政策得到采纳的优势会增加30.2%;财政自给率在水污染严重程度与河长制采纳之间具有负向调节效应,即面临严重的环境污染,财政自给率高的省份不太倾向于采纳河长制,而财政自给率低的省份则更加倾向于采纳河长制;河长制政策采纳具有明显的政治周期性,在党代会召开的当年,省政府更加倾向于采纳河长制;邻近省份的政策采纳并不会对河长制的横向扩散产生显著影响.     

风险社会中突发事件的特征与处置理念探析

突发性事件由于其本身所具有突发性、紧急性、危重性、复杂性、关联性、广泛性、政治性和不确定性等特征,所以其负面性影响很大,往往可能成为激发社会矛盾、进而爆发政治、经济和社会危机的直接原因。而经济转轨、社会转型、利益群体多元化等许多不稳定的因素,对局部地区乃至全国的经济发展和社会稳定构成了潜在威胁。在这样一个具有诸多风险因素的社会,由此而引发的突发事件又有形式多元化、规模扩大化、形态群体化、影响辐射化、目标国际化等特点。所以,在现阶段,处置突发事件的理念必须适应这种风险社会的公共危机特点,做到危机缓和,未病先防;以人为本,取信于民;利益调和,治病求本。     

Plans to distribute the next billion computers by 2015 creates lead pollution risk

Major computer and software companies, along with governments and philanthropic organizations have embarked on ambitious plans to put computers in the hands of more than one billion new computer users over the next five to six years in untapped markets in emerging economies. The most frequently proposed solution to overcome the electricity shortfall in communities where new computer users will be located is to use rechargeable lead-acid batteries to provide primary and back-up power for computers. This paper calculates the lead emissions from battery manufacturing and recycling that will result if independent market projections to greatly expand the number, geographic, and socioeconomic distribution of computer users are realized. By examining several possible scenarios, we estimate that between 1250 and 2300 kt of lead – between four and seven times the weight of the Empire State Building – could be released into the environment in the developing world to provide power to computers sold through 2015. Increased lead exposure has a negative impact on children's neurological development as measured by reduced school performance and on standardized tests. In order to realize the educational achievement and economic development benefits of reducing the “digital divide” proponents will need to encourage improvements in lead battery production and recycling in targeted markets.     

Marginalization by collaboration: Environmental justice as a third party in and beyond CALFED

Governance and planning of ecosystem and water management within the California Bay-Delta, a critical component of California's water economy, have been characterized by a range of innovations in collaboration and conflict resolution. Despite legal mandates to incorporate environmental justice, the California Bay-Delta Authority's (CBDA) policy-development process and the subsequent Delta Vision process have systematically marginalized the role of environmental justice in California's water policy. We suggest that environmental justice in Bay-Delta planning can be understood as a “third party” with a tenuous seat at the CALFED water management table. As such environmental justice is a useful lens through which to assess the state's broader commitments and capacities relative to equity as a planning principal and outcome. We interpret the fate of environmental justice within Bay-Delta planning as indicative of the inherent tensions between systems based on increasing market dominance and state legitimation and the values of environmental justice based on distributive, procedural, and cognitive justice. We construct a model of marginalization and environmental injustice in collaborative planning to illustrate these tensions. We draw upon experiences of members of the Environmental Justice Sub-Committee of CBDA's Bay Delta Public Advisory Committee, as well as interviews with other key environmental justice interests, and a comprehensive review of internal and public CBDA documents relating to the environmental justice program including budgets and program plans, and ethnographic field work. We conclude that by learning from the mistakes of Bay-Delta planning, a positive model of collaborative, environmental justice-based planning for water and ecosystem management is possible.     

Technical knowledge,discursive spaces and politics at the science–policy interface

This special issue contributes to a better understanding of science–policy interactions in environmental governance, by assembling studies based on interpretative policy analysis. We introduce the theory and use of interpretative approaches in the analysis of science–policy interactions and draw on Stone's Policy Paradox (2002) to demonstrate how policy discourses are constituted by expertise but also by interests and rhetoric. This enables us to show how policy discourses are shaped by, but also shape their environment, especially when they become dominant and suppress alternative discourses and related knowledge claims and governance practices. In particular, we highlight the role of scientific and other technical expertise in the establishment and interpretation of policy discourses in different settings and argue that current environmental policy discourses afford considerable space for science and expertise to calculate the state of the environment, evaluate the sustainability of policies and forge solutions for green economic growth. In the conclusion we underscore the importance of reflexivity on the part of scientists working at the science–policy interface regarding the political choices implicit in the policy discourses they both work within and help to establish.     

How sustainable is policy incoherence? A rationalist policy analysis of the Cameroonian electricity reform

Instead of being the milestone in Cameroon's economic reform program that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) claimed it would be, the 2001 privatisation of the Cameroonian electricity sector has turned out to be a millstone round the government, and country's neck. This paper documents and analyses the multidimensional incoherence embedded in the Cameroonian electricity sector reforms, initiated under the pressure of structural adjustment credit projects led by the World Bank. More specifically, 12 policy incoherencies are examined in the Cameroonian context. They range from a poor understanding of the electricity sector's problems, to pre-determined solutions and important shortcomings in the assessment of possible impacts. The results of these policy inconsistencies are analysed in terms the sector's sustainability, based upon the five key concepts introduced by Bruntland, suggesting that the reforms have failed to promote social, environmental or economic sustainability. Although this study concerns Cameroon, its relevance goes beyond this specific country, as similar policies are being implemented around the world.     

The growth discourse,growth policy and sustainable development: two thought experiments

This paper addresses three aspects of ‘growth’: the discourse, the policy, and the impacts. The growth discourse claims that the central factor for social, economic, political and environmental progress is economic growth – it is assumed to create wealth, and provide the necessary means for social and environmental purposes. On the basis of the growth discourse, different growth policies can be derived, based on different economic and political ideologies.In order to reveal the implications of de facto degrowth, two thought experiments are conducted, for physical and economic end-to-growth strategies. The latter is capable of meeting environmental objectives, but implies significant social tensions and hardships and calls for transition strategies consisting of carefully designed steps.     

Subsistence over symbolism: the role of transnational municipal networks on cities’ climate policy innovation and adoption

Urban areas account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly, it is city governments that are adopting and implementing climate mitigation policies. Many municipal governments have joined two different global city networks that aim to promote climate policy development at the urban scale, and there is qualitative evidence that such networks play an important role in motivating cities to adopt climate policies and helping them to implement them. Our study objective is to test this proposition quantitatively, making use of a global database on cities’ environmental policy adoption, and also taking into account a large number of other factors that could play a role in climate policy adoption. Controlling for these other factors, we find that network membership does make a significant difference in the number of different measures that city governments adopt. We also find that there are significant differences between the two different networks, suggesting that the nature of the services that such networks offer their members can play an important role. Our findings lead to the provision of a set of global mitigation strategies: First of all, joining the city networks can lead to a generation of global strategies which can result into climate mitigation benefits. However, cities are required to select the network which provides proper tailor made policies. Second, in the absence of concrete international commitments at the local level, city networks lay the ground for global governance and enable cities to adopt policies independently and proactively. Third, consideration of co-benefits of climate policies can optimize the development of global strategies.     

Methodological considerations for nitrogen policies in the Netherlands including a new role for research

The Netherlands has attempted to follow EU guidelines in developing national policies to reduce pollution of groundwater by nitrates originating from (over) fertilized agricultural land. The EU has not been satisfied with these policies and this is resulting in legal conflicts. National policies have focused on nitrogen budgeting and on fertilization rates, over-simplifying the crucial role of soils during the leaching of nitrates to groundwater. As an alternative, a dynamic approach using simulation modeling is introduced as is illustrated for a study area in the Netherlands. A number of considerations for future policy directions are suggested, including requirements for research: (i) promotion of research aimed at improving and maintaining nutrient use efficiency at farm level; (ii) promotion of joint learning experiences between farmers and researchers, where farmers’ organizations could act as “research consortia”; (iii) emphasis on site and time specific management (precision agriculture) in policy development, and provision of site-specific advice via modern information and communication technologies; (iv) clearer guidelines for groundwater monitoring procedures, including additional monitoring at greater depths and consideration of groundwater quality from an appropriate regional perspective; (v) groundwater monitoring should take place at locations selected according to specific hydro-geological characteristics, rather than being executed at random and (vi) clear goals that are defined within existing and future policies at EU and international level, should allow for regional differentiation in indicators; these being the outcome of negotiations between farmers or their representatives, policy makers and researchers.     

Industrial symbiosis: the case for market coordination

Despite the fact that all successful, documented cases of industrial symbiosis to this day have been self-organizing, some authors and development officials have suggested that increased public planning might deliver better results in this respect than spontaneously evolved market coordination. This paper takes an historical approach to suggest that comprehensive planning is unlikely to live up to the expectations of its proponents.The essay is structured as follows. The first section provides short case studies of industrial symbiosis in highly different economic and institutional settings, the essentially free-market regime of Victorian England and communist Hungary (1948–1989). The available evidence suggests that market coordination proved much more favorable to the emergence of industrial symbiosis, despite the elaboration of a comprehensive policy to that effect in Hungary. Insights derived from the so-called “Austrian” critique of central planning are then used to explain this paradox. The analysis presented suggests that the Hungarian planners’ failure was not so much the result of the bad implementation of sound policies, but the logical outcome of a top-down approach’s shortcomings. Policy implications for the public planning of industrial symbiosis in a mixed economy are then derived and the case for self-organization is found more compelling. The creation of more innovative institutions that will force firms to “internalize their externalities” while leaving them the necessary freedom to innovate is viewed as an urgently needed and promising path towards increased, sustainable reuse of industrial by-products.     

The drivers for contractors’ green innovation: an industry perspective

In the construction industry, contractors have been facing the challenge to meet the emerging needs related to the reduction of environmental impacts during the construction process. Generally, the commitment of efforts and resources from contractors to meet these needs is motivated by the influence exerted from environmental regulations and stakeholder demands. However, managerial environmental concerns and size of firms also account as key factors affecting the adoption of green construction practices. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify those factors influencing contractors to adopt green construction practices by using data gathered from a survey. From the results, it has been found that managerial concern is the most important driver for the adoption of green practices. Significant relationships have also been found between government regulations and business size with the adoption of green construction practices. However, there is no significant evidence on the relationship among the adoption of green construction practices with perceived stakeholders’ pressures. The findings from this study are significant in the understanding on the factors of green construction management. This knowledge may contribute to better decision-making towards implementing green construction practices.     

The San Francisco Bay-Delta: A failure of decision-making capacity

The paper reviews the history of Bay-Delta decision-making in California in order to highlight the continuity between what happened with CALFED and what happened in the preceding decades since water project deliveries began in 1949. Throughout this period, there has been intense conflict about whether and how to transfer water from the Bay-Delta to users elsewhere—a conflict marked by a fundamental opposition of interests among stakeholders. We document how the State of California has failed to organize itself effectively to resolve this conflict and make a decision on how to manage the Delta. The strategy consistently adopted by the State was to encourage the main parties – agricultural and urban water diverters, and fisheries and other instream-protection interests – to work out a solution among themselves, rather than imposing one externally. However, economic theory suggests that a bargaining solution is unlikely to exist because of the extreme opposition of interest among the parties. The Bay-Delta history amply confirms this theoretical prediction. Thus, the State's strategy of relying on voluntary agreement to resolve the issue is fundamentally misconceived and is, at some level, an abdication of its responsibility.     

Waste management policies for industrial symbiosis development: case studies in European countries

Industrial symbiosis (IS) emerged as a self-organizing business strategy among firms that are willing to cooperate to improve their economic and environmental performance. The adoption of such cooperative strategies relates to increasing costs of waste management, most of which are driven by policy and legislative requirements.Development of IS depends on an enabling context of social, informational, technological, economical and political factors. The power to influence this context varies among the agents involved such as the government, businesses or coordinating entities. Governmental intervention, as manifested through policies, could influence a wider range of factors; and we believe this is an area which is under-researched.This paper aims to critically appraise the waste policy interventions from supra-national to sub-national levels of government. A case study methodology has been applied to four European countries i.e. Denmark, the UK, Portugal and Switzerland, in which IS emerged or is being fostered.The findings suggest that there are commonalities in policy instruments that may have led to an IS enabling context. The paper concludes with lessons learnt and recommendations on shaping the policy context for IS development.     

Ecosystem services provided by urban gardens in Barcelona,Spain: Insights for policy and planning

In many European cities, urban gardens are seen as increasingly important components of urban green space networks. We adopt an ecosystem services framework to assess contributions of urban gardens to the quality of of their users. First, we identify and characterize ecosystem services provided by urban gardens. Secondly, we assess the demographic and socioeconomic profile of its beneficiaries and the relative importance they attribute to different ecosystem services. Next we discuss the relevance of our results in relation to critical policy challenges, such as the promotion of societal cohesion and healthy lifestyles. Data were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews and a survey among 201 users of 27 urban gardens in Barcelona, Spain, as well as from consultation meetings with local planners. We identified 20 ecosystem services, ranging from food production over pollination to social cohesion and environmental learning. Among them, cultural ecosystem services (non-material benefits people derive from their interaction with nature) ​ stand out as the most widely perceived and as the most highly valued. The main beneficiaries of ecosystem services from urban gardens are elder, low-middle income, and migrant people. Our results about the societal importance of urban gardens ​were deemed highly relevant by the interviewed green space planners in Barcelona, who noted that our data can provide basis to support or expand existing gardening programs in the city. Our research further suggests that ecosystem services from urban gardens can play an important role in addressing several urban policy challenges in cities, such as promoting stewardship of urban ecosystems, providing opportunities for recreation and healthy lifestyles, and promoting social cohesion. We conclude that urban gardens and associated ecosystem services can play an important ​ in urban policies aimed at enhancing quality of life in cities, particularly if access to their benefits is expanded to larger segments of the population.     

The evolution of Dutch environmental policy: The changing ecological arena from 1970–2000 and beyond

Dutch environmental policies over the past thirty years have expanded through three distinct phases. These policies gradually opened up to engage stakeholders in establishing legislation, formulating implementation plans, and finally jointly defining ecological objectives. Environmental policies became increasingly effective by ensuring the taking on of environmental responsibilities by a growing number of stakeholders. Four unresolved issues present a formidable agenda for environmental policy attention in the next decade: managing CO₂ emissions, controlling future infrastructure development, minimising resources use, and reducing the burden on biodiversity. These issues relate to the necessary management of stocks of energy, other non-renewable resources, space, and biodiversity, respectively. Up to now, the issue of the preservation of stocks has not received much policy attention. They are expected to become the new policy issues complementing the traditional emission reduction policies which mainly aim at safeguarding the quality of air, water and soil. It is argued that super-optimizing policies engaging jointly economic, social, and ecological interests, are needed to resolve the issues at stake.     

Promotion of cleaner production investments: international experience

Cleaner Production (CP) should be an essential part of any comprehensive environmental management system at an enterprise or national level. In many cases the adoption of CP improvements can reduce or even eliminate the need for end-of-pipe investments and therefore can have both environmental and economic benefits. Experience shows, that often companies having identified cost-effective and technically-feasible CP options, may still not be able to make necessary CP investment to realise the financial benefits and environmental advantages. Financing of CP projects varies among countries and types of the projects. Domestic and international efforts to strengthen environmental financing still face a number of serious obstacles, many of which are related to profound economic, political and social problems. The detailed evaluation of revolving fund establishment possibilities based on personal experience of the authors in Lithuania, Zimbabwe and Vietnam is presented in the paper.     

Evidence,politics and power in public policy for the environment

Despite a recent emphasis on ‘evidence based policy’ accompanied by an abundance of ‘green’ policy instruments, experience from the European Union and OECD countries shows that decisions which truly aim to balance environmental considerations with social and economic ones remain thin on the ground. Moreover, many policies seem to fall short of, or directly contradict what the available ‘evidence’ suggests is required. This is a synthesis paper bringing together literature from the fields of political science, geography, sociology and science and technology studies to outline some of the obscurities relating to the use of scientific evidence in environmental decision-making. In this paper, we suggest that an exploration of three key inter-related issues is necessary to develop a richer understanding of why evidence and policy interact as they do. These are the nature of evidence itself; the normative, moral or ethical ‘politics’ of policy-making; and the operation of power in the policy process. Our primary goal is to bring various literatures together to better conceptualise the evidence–policy relationship. In so doing, we outline specific challenges for knowledge producers who set research priorities, and design and direct research projects. We also highlight significant implications for policy decision-making processes.     

Towards an inter-disciplinary research agenda on climate change, water and security in Southern Europe and neighboring countries

The Mediterranean and neighboring countries are already experiencing a broad range of natural and man-made threats to water security. According to climate projections, the region is at risk due to its pronounced susceptibility to changes in the hydrological budget and extremes. Such changes are expected to have strong impacts on the management of water resources and on key strategic sectors of regional economies. Related developments have an increased capacity to exacerbate tensions, and even intra- and inter-state conflict among social, political, ecological and economic actors. Thus, effective adaptation and prevention policy measures call for multi-disciplinary analysis and action.This review paper presents the current state-of-the-art on research related to climate change impacts upon water resources and security from an ecological, economic and social angle. It provides perspectives for current and upcoming research needs and describes the challenges and potential of integrating and clustering multi-disciplinary research interests in complex and interwoven human-environment systems and its contribution to the upcoming 5th assessment report of the IPCC.