CONDITIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INTEGRATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY: THE POLITICS of MULTIPLE DIVIDENDS at LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVEL in TURKEY

Abstract

The interdependent nature of environmental problems entails a number of challenges for policy-makers. Although sustainability has been a major policy goal endorsed all around the world, environmental problems have “sustained” and have not sufficiently been resolved. Problems behind this partial failure partly stem from policy implementation in a multilevel and interdependent policy environment. Prevalence of institutionalised ideas and discourses on environment and development contribute to a pattern of path dependence, which contributes to problems in the integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas. This paper aims to focus on environmental policy integration (EPI), a widely recommended but rarely implemented policy principle and aims to identify conditions of EPI at local level climate governance in Turkey. Departing from successful EPI experiences of certain Turkish municipalities’, this paper describes the conditions of local level EPI in a single country case. The existence of multiple dividends, availability of technological fixes and involvement of international players contribute to attainment of EPI despite prevalence of institutionalised barriers.