PSY 005 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Environmental Governance, Environmental Policy, Lastminute.Com
14 Sep 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Global environmental and sustainable development policy
Policy
= “The decisions taken by those with responsibility…and these decisions usually take the form of
formal positions on an issue which are then executed by a bureaucracy” (Keeley, J. et al, 1999)
- policy is more complex, it involves–->
− States, markets, civil society
− Political pressure (e.g. funds by organisations to pass the policy)
− Role of discourses (topics that people not normally talk about,
uncomfortable, forbidden)
− Role of information (what kind of information can we access, do we have
the rights to access it)
− Environmental governance (is it a part of the government or non-
governmental organisation?)
− Power – with state, with market, with civil society?
− Transfers of power
− Role of financing
− Role of supra-national institutions
- States have been empowered by the ideology of globalisation and increased mobility of capital to
‘weaken environmental legislation and generally to align state policy more closely with the interests
of dominant and transnational capital’ (Benton, 2000)
- Where state structures are limited, power and privilege of business groups are enhanced.
Businesses are better connected with some parts of the state than others. Ministries of Trade and
Finance are more connected with business than Environment departments
- Inequalities in power between international institutions – WTO more powerful than UNEP
- Environmental negotiations are carried out in the shadow of world trade rules. The rights of capital
over states are being enshrined in international trade and investment agreements Firms register
their views with governments through bodies like the Global Industry Coalition on Biotechnology.
Firms create alliances with conservative elements of the environmental movement creating ‘a global
environmental elite which has been more or less incorporated into the transnational capitalist class
(Newell, 2012)
-Low level of policy coherence – integration of environmental goals into economic and trade policy
United Nations Sustainable Goals
- In 2013, the UN General Assembly OWG established to identify specific goals for the SDGs. After 13
sessions, the OWG submitted proposed 17 SDGs and 169 targets, accepted by UN in 2014.
- Post 2015 Development Agenda → Consultations in 2015 (Addis Ababa Action Agenda)
- Final document adopted at UN Sustainable Development Summit: ‘Transforming our World: The
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’
- On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at UN Summit — officially
came into force. → Fifteen years to meet these new Goals AND they universally apply to all (Call for
action by all countries)
- Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate
change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.
- The SDGs build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end all
forms of poverty.
Do SDGs have some teeth?! Can they solve anything?
- The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not legally binding. Countries are expected to take
ownership and establish a national framework for achieving the 17 Goals.
- Implementation and success will rely on countries’ own sustainable development policies, plans and
programmes. Countries have the primary responsibility for follow-up and review, at the national,
Document Summary
= the decisions taken by those with responsibility and these decisions usually take the form of formal positions on an issue which are then executed by a bureaucracy (keeley, j. et al, 1999) Political pressure (e. g. funds by organisations to pass the policy) Role of discourses (topics that people not normally talk about, uncomfortable, forbidden) Role of information (what kind of information can we access, do we have the rights to access it) Environmental governance (is it a part of the government or non- governmental organisation?) States have been empowered by the ideology of globalisation and increased mobility of capital to. Weaken environmental legislation and generally to align state policy more closely with the interests of dominant and transnational capital" (benton, 2000) Where state structures are limited, power and privilege of business groups are enhanced. Businesses are better connected with some parts of the state than others. Finance are more connected with business than environment departments.
