Environmental Analysis and Policy Planning

Abstract

The concept of as a legitimate and often pressing concern for policy makers is relatively new. Discussions of this subject are often emotional and are characterized more by value statements, speculation, and wishful thinking than by systems analysis and sensitive political judgments. The usual polarization of factions results in a frustrating and counterproductive battle between the protectors of the environment and those who want to keep progressing. This paper presents a different view of how the concept of should be considered in the context of political and societal policy making. It addresses the general subject of environment and policies (such as economic growth policy, energy policy, food policy, industrial policy, etc.) rather than focusing on policies just for the environment. Incorporating the environmental dimension into policy making is an effective way to assure that the objectives of the policies can be sustained. This approach is based on a positive attitude about the role of environmental analysis in policy planning, that is, the more we know about the environmental systems on which we depend, the better we can manage them to achieve a broad range of societal objectives. Discussions of environmental issues have often been sidetracked by a debate on environment versus growth. Policies designed for rapid economic growth have caused major and often irreparable damage to certain environmental systems. Efforts to protect the environment have led to prescriptions for actions that could seriously cripple drives for econ mic growth in certain areas. There are three reasons for this impasse: First, most economic theory has viewed the environment as an externality in calculations of costs and benefits. The various parts of the environment are often regarded as free inputs for production and free reservoirs for disposal of wastes (Dorfman 1977, Herfindahl and Kneese 1965). Therefore, suggesting that environmental prices exist is not easily accepted. Second, the time frame of many economic plans, whether generated by the public or private sectors, is shortterm-on the order of years rather than decades. This drastically discounts the future uses of environmental systems (Page 1977, Scott 1973) and prevents consideration of such issues as sustain-