Environmental Policy and Societal Aims

337 Pages·1999·9.53 MB·English

by  Denis Requier-Desjardins

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND SOCIETAL AIMS
STUDIES IN ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
VOLUME 2
Environmental Policy and
Societal Aims
edited by
DENIS REQUIER-DESJARDINS
Centre d'Economie et d'Ethique pour V Environnement et le Developpement,
Universite de Versailles-St. Quentin, France
CLIVE SPASH
Cambridge Research for the Environment,
Department of Land Economy,
University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, United Kingdom
and
JAN VAN DER STRAATEN
Department of Leisure Studies,
Tilburg University,
European Centre for Nature Conservation,
Tilburg, The Netherlands
KM
If
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A CLP. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-010-5928-2 ISBN 978-94-011-4521-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4521-3
All Rights Reserved
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1999
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1999
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
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retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
PREFACE
Denis Requier-Desjardins, Clive L. Spash
and Jan van der Straaten
Many books and articles have been published about the ecological economic
dimension of various environmental problems. In most cases, authors pay
particular attention to approaches which fmd their origin in economic theory.
Sustainable development and environmental improvement are often regarded as
of value in themselves as given phenomena and as a result the policy process by
which these goals are to be achieved fails to receive full attention. Our belief is
that ecological economics should be addressing the institutional and policy
making aspects of environmental problems and so covering a broad socio
economic research agenda which differentiates it from mainstream economic
approaches. This can be compatible with research conducted by environmental
economists or natural scientists but goes beyond the limitations of a positivist
approach, is open to multiple perspectives on the same issue, sees conflict
resolution as a social process and accepts the need for research addressing
political economy.
In this book, the aims of society itself are given a high profile. We are
convinced that an in-depth analysis of the policy process is necessary to
understand the pitfalls and barriers which society will confront in the process of
sustainable development. This means the chapters of this book discuss topics
which are commonly regarded as more or less exogenous to the mainstream
defmition of economic process. The book starts by dealing with issues related to
local development and environmental policy. Environmental policy is seen to be
more than a national or international concern, and in particular modem
environmental concepts, such as sustaining robust ecosystems, are recognised as
having numerous implications for local development. In the following chapters
v
VI Preface
the relationship between environmental policy and other policy goals is
discussed. Next, attention is given to the process of technological change, and,
fmally, environmental policy tools and the process of decision-making are
examined.
All the papers in this book were presented at the Inaugural Conference of the
European branch of the International Society for Ecological Economics entitled
'Ecology, Society, Economy, in Pursuit of Sustainable Development' held at the
University of Versailles, St Quentin-en-Yvelines, France, 23-25 May 1996. The
conference was a great success with a wide representation of individuals and
institutions from across Europe. There were many interesting presentations at
this conference, enabling us to compose a collection of articles which address the
topic of this book in a variety of ways. In particular, the chapters of this book
have been chosen so as to communicate areas and topics which we believe will
be of importance to future research.
The editors of this book commented in detail on the first drafts of the papers,
which gave authors the opportunity to revise and improve their contributions.
The process of feedback and revision with multiple authors in numerous
countries made the project of producing this book more complex than most
edited volumes. The secretariat of the European Society for Ecological
Economics, located at the Centre d'Economie et d'Ethique pour
l'Environnement et Ie Developpement at the University of Versailles,
St.Quentin-en-Yvelines, gave substantial support to achieving the fmal product.
In particular the work of Sarah Dwyer and Miguel Lopez deserves special
mention for production and editorial assistance.
We hope that this book will stimulate the discussion between policy-makers
on the one hand, and ecological economists on the other. Such debate is
necessary if we are to clarify the specific areas of research which need to be
explored further in order to facilitate goals such as environmental improvement,
ecosystem maintenance and sustainable development.
Denis Requier-Desjardins
Clive L. Spash
Jan van der Straaten
May 1998
CONTENTS
Preface v
D. Requier-Desjardins, C. Spash and J. van der Straaten
Environmental Policy and Societal Aims 1
D. Requier-Desjardins, C. Spash and J. van der Straaten
Industry Preferences for Instruments of Environmental Policy 13
B. Dijkstra and A. Nentjes
A CarbonlEnergy Tax for Sustainable Development 35
N. Gouzee and S. Willems
The Use of National Savings in Sustainability Analysis 63
A.C. Hansen
Sustainable Development and Ecological Modernisation 103
M.J. Cohen
Localized Technical Change and the Efficient Control of
Global Warming 129
F. Ferrante
Do Local Authorities Have a Part to Play in a Sustainable
Development? 155
S. Krarup
Sustainability and Civic Participation in Environmental Local
Auditing. Contributions from the Experience in Catalonia 169
x.
M.A. Alia, Kendall and S. Laredo
Local Sustainable Development: How Can Equity Issues Be
Examined at the Local Level? 191
J. Corbett and H. Voisey
V111 Contents
Cultural Empowerment: (Re)Building Locality and Facilitating
Collective Vision as Interventions Toward Sustainable Rural
Development 213
N. Mack
Qualitative Growth - Employment: A Revised Relationship 247
L. Grimal and C. Kephaliacos
From the Expected to the Desired Future of Passenger
Transport. A Stakeholder Approach 279
S.A. Rienstra and P. Nijkamp
Sustainable Development and Social Justice: The Tool of the
Reduction in Income Inequalities 307
1.M. Harribey
Subject index 311
1
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND
SOCIETAL AIMS
Denis Requier-Desjardins, Clive L. Spash
and Jan van der Straaten
Introduction
In a democratic society environmental policies need to be related to the full
range of objectives to be held important by that society. Without understanding
the relevance of this relationship we might expect, for example, that strong
resistance from polluters would be the normal situation in all cases where
authorities have the intention of implementing policies involving strict
environmental rules. This resistance would be successful in many instances,
especially when there is weak or poorly co-ordinated support for such strict
rules. The successful implementation of legal restrictions, which can be observed
in many democratic societies, implies that environmental policy can be
established while reinforcing and supporting a range of societal aims. However,
the conclusion that the relationship between environmental policies and societal
aims is therefore well defmed does not follow from this observation.
In part, the relationship is difficult to clarify because the processes leading to
the implementation of environmental policies are different from those forming
and changing public opinion. In modem democratic countries the formulation
and implementation of environmental policies is the initiative of public
authorities; in most European cases the Minister of the Environment. Usually,
the Minister will avoid taking any initiative without consulting with other
ministers, in particular those in charge of the polluting sectors such as
agriculture, energy production and transportation. Although there are
recognisable differences between countries with respect to the level to which
polluting sectors, as power groups, can influence the process of policy
formulation, the authorities in democratic countries do tend to discuss the
measures to be taken with the polluters prior to their implementation.
2
DENIs REQUIER-DEsJARDINS. CUVE L. SPASH AND JAN VAN DER STRAAlEN
The outcome of this process is uncertain for several reasons. First, polluters
have different degrees of economic importance in different countries. Thus, for
example, the role of intensive farming in the Netherlands in complete contrast
with that in Austria or Denmark. Second, certain environmental issues attract
more attention in one country than they do in another. Acidic deposition or
nuclear contamination due to electric power generation, for example, are
regarded differently in Germany than in France or Switzerland. This poses
particular problems in the context of the European Union because one aim of
that institution is that all member states have the same environmental policies. In
this case, the desire for equity in policy terms can be expected to result in
international conflict.
While environmental agencies, as branches of government, may take the lead
on policy initiation the formation of specific policy is a complex interaction
between various groups. During the process of environmental policy design and
articulation, discussions take place within the existing democratic institutions. In
principal, these institutions allow the established political parties and those
groups and individuals with a vested interest in the policy to have their say. The
civil servants of the ministries involved write documents to advise the ministers
and for wider dissemination. The media react to the documents and play on their
perception of the issues of the day, and in doing so they also influence the
outcome of the debate. This process of debate and articulation is where sectors
of society express their concerns about conflicting societal aims.
An important aspect of this process is that, whenever and wherever
environmental policies are implemented there is a change in the rights operating
over the environment. Environmental policies, to date, generally aim to restrict,
in one way or another, the unlimited use of the environment by polluters (be they
industries or individual citizens). In the course of time, the evidence has
accumulated to convince many people that the environment is no longer able to
absorb the ever increasing level and range of human activities impacting upon
ecosystem functions, whether that intervention be in the form of emitting
pollution or manipulating genes. New, strict environmental rules are needed to
regulate future human interactions with the environment. This can be done
through legislation or through the use of economic instruments such as fees and
taxes. Thus, in general, the process of environmental policy design and
articulation tends to be characterised by a top-down approach. If the
environmental problems are recognised by the authorities they will start a
process of devising new environmental policies which then need to be
considered by all economic actors.
Societal aims are related to this process, but they are at the same time
independent of it. In general, the processes changing societal aims are more