Areas Of Environmental Policy Research Articles

Incorporating diverse values of nature in decision-making-theory and practice.

Values play a significant role in decision-making, especially regarding nature. Decisions impact people and nature in complex ways and understanding which values are prioritised, and which are left out is an important task for improving the equity and effectiveness of decision-making. Based on work done for the IPBES Values Assessment, this paper develops a framework to support analyses of how decision-making influences nature as well as whose values get prioritised. The framework is used to analyse key areas of environmental policy: a) the present model for nature protection in market economies, b) the role of valuation in bringing nature values into decisions, and c) values embedded in environmental policy instruments, exemplified by protected areas for nature conservation and payments for ecosystem services. The analyses show that environmental policies have been established as mere additions to decision-making structures that foster economic expansion, which undermines a wide range of nature's values. Moreover, environmental policies themselves are also focused on a limited set of nature's diverse values. This article is part of the theme issue 'Bringing nature into decision-making'.

Testing theories of policy growth: public demands, interest group politics, electoral competition, and institutional fragmentation

ABSTRACT Policy growth is a ubiquitous feature of modern democracies that has attracted increased attention in political science and beyond. However, the literature is characterised by considerable disagreement on why policy growth occurs. Existing explanations centre on the influence of (1) public demands, (2) interest group politics, (3) electoral competition, and (4) institutional fragmentation. While all four explanations are plausible, there are no studies that assess their relative explanatory power within a single empirical analysis. This article provides such an analysis by examining the drivers of policy growth in 21 OECD countries from 1976 to 2020 in the area of environmental policy. We identify strong ties between organised interests and the government as the primary driver of policy growth. Public demands and institutional fragmentation are relevant but comparatively less important factors, while the intensity of electoral competition has no influence on policy growth. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the functioning of democracy in the long run.

ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE: WHERE WE ARE NOW AND WHERE WE WILL BE IN TWO OR THREE DECADES. <i>GLOBAL TRENDS</i>

The article is the first of the two contributions based upon the authors’ studies and reports provided to Horizon-2040. The latter is a project organized by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives serving a platform for strategic dialogue to determine the role and position of Russia in the international arena in 2040 and produce scenarios for the national long-term development trends in the key areas, environment and climate inclusive. The current state of the global environmental and climate change issues is contemplated. Also considered is dynamics of these issues within the past 50 years in terms of the global sustainable development priorities. Aqualitative forecast of the state and expected developments in coping with the issues above by 2040 is introduced. The key challenges associated with the World Ocean, land waters, air quality, environmental situation in the cities, climate and biodiversity issues are briefly discussed. The priority strategic role of biodiversity in sustainable development of the world community and economy within the long term perspective is substantiated. Emphasized arwpoor understanding and under-evaluation of adaptation policy role in the global climate agenda. Distinguished are the four types of key events according to their contribution to the homo ecologicus formation. Also disclosed are the four key factors precipitating the existing poor situation in environmental and climate policy areas and tendencies of their further deterioration which (factors) involve public awareness, value system and human activity attitudes.

Bureaucratic overburdening in advanced democracies

AbstractConstant policy growth can overburden bureaucracies if implementation capacities are not expanded in lockstep with policy production. This development may undermine policy effectiveness and hence the long‐term legitimacy of democracies. This article provides a systematic analysis of this phenomenon. We demonstrate that (i) overburdening is a general trend in advanced democracies; (ii) the extent of overburdening varies by the institutional context in which policy makers operate; and that, in consequence, (iii) countries' bureaucracies differ in their distance (or closeness) to the “tipping point” after which additional policies do more harm than good. We provide information on the ratio between the policies up for implementation and the bureaucratic capacities available for 21 OECD countries over a period of 45 years (1976–2020), focusing on the areas of environmental and social policy as two major areas of governmental intervention. Bayesian analyses and background interviews serve to illuminate the reasons for and consequences of overburdened bureaucracies.

WATER USE AS A FACTOR IN THE FORMATION OF ECOLOGICAL SAFETY OF THE NICHLAVA RIVER BASIN

The purpose of the article is to determine the level of pollution of the Nichlava River and the structure of water use in its basin from the point of view of forming the ecological security of the region. The following methods were used in the course of the study: evaluation, geoecological analysis, statistical, geoinformation, geochemical and cartographic. Ensuring the ecological safety of a small river basin directly depends on the hydroecological parameters of the river itself. Therefore, studying the pollution of the Nichlava River and the quality of its waters is an important and urgent scientific-practical task.
 Based on the analysis of statistical data from the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, we found that in 2021, 450 thousand m3 of water was withdrawn from natural water bodies in the Nichlava River basin, including 280 thousand m3 from underground water intakes. The used 600 thousand m3 of fresh water, including 260 thousand m3 for drinking and sanitary needs and 340 thousand m3 for production needs. The total water discharge in the Nichlava River basin in 2021 amounted to 660 thousand m3 of water. A total of 650 thousand m3 of wastewater was discharged into the basin's surface water bodies over the year. Including 80 thousand m3 of polluted wastewater and 180 thousand m3 of normatively clean wastewater without wastewater treatment. In 2021, 390 thousand m3 of wastewater was treated at the wastewater treatment plants in the study area. In 2016-2021, 668 thousand m3 of contaminated or insufficiently treated wastewater was discharged into the Nichlava River. Together with the polluted wastewater, 1147 tons of pollutants entered the river. The calculated polluting wastewater discharge coefficient for the Nichlava River basin is 0,12, which indicates not a high concentration of pollutants in the wastewater. However, despite the significant amounts of pollutants discharged into the surface water bodies of the Nichlava River basin, all indicators of the chemical-biological composition of water in the control section of the river meet ecological standards. Therefore, the level of ecological safety in the Nichlava River basin can be considered satisfactory. Promising measures to improve the ecological condition of the river and its basin include optimizing the structure of land use, restoring and preserving coastal protection strips, reconstructing inoperable sewage treatment plants in settlements, and eliminating unauthorized discharges into surface water bodies.
 Therefore, the introduction of effective mechanisms of rational water use in the Nichlava River basin should be a priority area of environmental policy at the regional level of new administrative districts and the local level of territorial communities. The river basin management plan, which must be developed, should include measures to restore the centralized drainage system in small and large settlements, reconstruction of treatment facilities and elimination of unauthorized discharges into surface water bodies.
 Key words: Nichlava River, polluted runoff, water use, water quality.

How Do Street-Level Bureaucrats Drive Successful Environmental Policy Implementation?——Comparative Case Studies Based on Different Policy Implementation Models

How street bureaucrats as policy implementers comply with policies to achieve policy goals and maintain grassroots stability is a hot issue of concern in the field of public policy. Based on a two-dimensional analytical framework of goal congruence and interest conformity, we explore the typological differences in policy implementation among grassroots street-level bureaucrats. Through a multi-case analysis of policy implementation in the environmental protection policy area of town A, we find that there are differences in the policy compliance behaviors of local street-level bureaucrats, specifically in the heterogeneous implementation of environmental protection inspectors, the rigid implementation of burn ban policy, the flexible implementation of natural gas policy, and the successful implementation of electricity subsidy policy. Based on the subject chain of “policy maker-policy implementer-target group”, this paper enriches the research perspective of street-level bureaucrats’ policy implementation.

Promoting environmentally friendly sun-protection behaviors among coastal state residents

Ecotoxicology studies increasingly point to harmful environmental effects from common sunscreen chemicals that filter ultraviolet light. As a result, governments are attempting to reduce ecological exposure through bans on these chemicals and outreach to consumers. Public health research has shown that sun protection choices are often highly context dependent, which may limit the extent to which newly adopted behaviors “spillover,” i.e. transfer to other places or influence additional pro-environmental actions. This study tests key theoretical literatures on behavioral spillover within this rapidly evolving area of environmental policy. In a factorial survey with Hawaii, North Carolina, and Florida residents (n = 735), respondents were more likely to say they would switch sunscreen than wear protective clothing in response to pro-environmental behavior change messages. Sunscreen message framing (“reef friendly” vs. “mineral based”), state of residence, and the location of coastal parks affected site-specific sun protection preferences. Further, sunscreen message framing effects spilled over to general sun protection preferences for the next time respondents go to the shore or beach. Yet, respondents cited lack of information as a barrier in making sunscreen choices. Public responsiveness to “reef friendly” branding—as demonstrated in this research—is confounded by unclear consumer information about which sunscreen formulations qualify, impeding the effectiveness of state and federal efforts to protect natural resources. Alternately, efforts to support changing public norms for UPF clothing may offer an emergent opportunity to promote both public health and environmental goals.

Exploring Mechanisms for Sustainable Resource Management: An Empirical Study on Human, Social, Economic & Environmental Resources in Bangladesh

Sustainable resource management aims to concurrently produce favorable effects for the environment, society, and the economy. The SDGs provide strategies, goals, activities, and management practices that resource management practitioners can apply in the fields of development outcomes in Bangladesh. Advancing the societal aspect of sustainability is challenging in developing countries like Bangladesh because large portions of the population live below the International Poverty Line. This study is done from secondary sources rely on observations to investigate past preparing frameworks examination with certain recommendations of new contemplations, strategies, procedures, and applications Ensuring air and water quality, reducing food and water consumption, decreasing waste, enhancing energy efficiency, sharing of renewable energy and conserving ecologically valuable lands are the challenges of SDG globally. The interrelationship between different factors and their influence on Human, Social, Economic, and Environmental Resources in Bangladesh is highly sensitive and volatile for the accuracy of monitoring. This study aims to Explore Mechanisms for Sustainable Resource Management in Bangladesh in the areas of human, social, economic, and environmental Resources sustainable quality, systems, analysis, and policy. The findings of this study can be used for policy intervention for future sustainable development of the SRM from the perspective of resource Mechanism analysis, renewable resources, and following the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Fairness, Equity, and Justice Implications of French‐Influenced Environmental Policy in Africa

AbstractFrance has played an active role in the environmental policy field in Africa prior to, during, and since the European colonial era on the continent in the 19th century. However, because France's overseas activities receive inadequate attention in the Anglophone literature, knowledge of this role is scant among English‐speaking scholars. This article analyzes French activities in the environmental policy field in Africa. The focus is on five specific substantive environmental policy areas: land tenure, forestry, agriculture, mining, and the built environment. The main objective is to highlight the environmental fairness, equity, and justice implications of French activities in these areas. The activities are shown to be unfair, inequitable, and unjust to traditionally marginalized societal groups. These groups were comprised of indigenous Africans during the colonial era and, thereafter, of the poor, women, and ethnic minorities. National and international authorities would do well to institute fairness, equity, and justice as a requirement for all initiatives, especially by multinational corporations, in the environmental policy field in Africa.

Relationship Between Climate Change and Agriculture at the EU Level

Abstract The purpose of this study is investigating the homogeneity of the European Union countries (hereinafter: EU countries) according to the achieved level of environmental performance in agriculture and climate change in 2020. The data used for this study are from an internationally comparable database. For the purpose of validation of the laid hypothesis, methods of statistical analysis were employed. The study focuses on Climate change and Agriculture, two factors of the Ecosystem Vitality component, which will be considered in more detail, as well as the indicators included in the Environmental Performance Index (hereinafter: EPI) structure. The empirical findings revealed the existence of a medium and a positive quantitative agreement between the two environmental policy areas, agriculture and climate change. Also, the cluster analysis showed that most of the countries selected for the research apply agricultural production with controlled use of nitrogen, which further affects the reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and thus minimally contributes to climate change.

Condemned to complexity? Growing state activity and complex policy systems

AbstractDoes growing state activity inevitably lead to more complex policy systems? In this article, we offer a new, comprehensive approach that systematically differentiates between the size and the complexity of policy portfolios to answer this question. Looking at data from 21 OECD countries over more than three decades (1980–2015) in the areas of social and environmental policy, we find substantial variation in the size and complexity of policy portfolios. While larger state activity is generally associated with growing complexity, this relation still varies both between countries and over time. Our finding suggests that increasing policy complexity is not a “natural given” but that two of the major trends of the last decades—growing state activity and global political integration—provided a very fertile ground that fosters policy complexity. These findings have important implications for analyzing macro patterns of state activity in the 21st century.

The Impact of the European Green Deal on EU Environmental Policy

The European Green Deal is the cornerstone of a comprehensive strategic package (European Green Deal Strategic Framework, EGDSF) which aims at transforming the EU into a climate-neutral and competitive economy by 2050. The present paper analyses the EGDSF policy design and investigates how it will affect EU environmental policy. It highlights that environmental policy areas are not characterized by the same level of ambition and are not equally equipped in terms of legislative initiatives (setting regulatory and economic instruments) to deliver on that ambition. When considering both these aspects, the policy areas of climate and energy (including GHG emissions from transport) emerge as the driving force of the EGDSF. Instead, in the biodiversity policy area, there is an evident mismatch between environmental objectives and legislative initiatives, which, in the long term, could jeopardize the achievement of all the key EGD goals, given their indivisibility.

Land cover change detection in the Aralkum with multi-source satellite datasets

ABSTRACT The Aral Sea, once the fourth largest freshwater lake on Earth, has lost circa 90% of its original water surface in 1960. Maps of different land cover categories provide a suitable baseline to plan and implement effective measures to combat ongoing desertification, such as reforestation of dried out Aral Sea soils. In this study, we used satellite-based remote sensing data and applied a machine learning method (Random Forest) to map land cover in the Aralkum in 2020. We tested different satellite data from optical (Landsat-8, Sentinel-2) and Radar instruments (Sentinel-1) and trained a random forest model for classifying different combinations of these data sets into ten distinct land cover classes. We further calculated per-pixel uncertainty based on posterior classification probability scores. An accuracy assessment, based on in-situ data, revealed that the average overall accuracy of land cover maps was 86.8%. Fusing optical and radar instruments achieved the highest overall accuracy (88.8%, with lower/higher 95% confidence interval values of 87.6%/89.9%, and a Kappa value of 0.865. Classification uncertainty was lower in more homogeneous landscapes (i.e. large expanses of a single land cover class like water or shrubland). Only around 9% of the study area was still water in 2020, while 32% was covered by saline soils with high erosion risk. Several potential applications of this land cover map in the Aralkum exist – spanning many areas of environmental impact assessment, policy, and planning and management or afforestation. This methodological framework can similarly provide a useful template for more broadly assessing large-scale, land dynamics at high-resolution in the entire Aralkum and surrounding areas.

Harmonization of the water legislation of the Russian Federation

Industry is one of the main water users, since water is used in most technological and production processes. Control and treatment of industrial wastewater in order to prevent and reduce environmental pollution are among the most important areas of environmental policy. The example of wastewater discharge regulation in Germany can provide additional potential for harmonization of legislation in the Russian Federation.

From indirectly to directly positive: the contribution of a positive orientation to environmental policy

ABSTRACT Policy goals regarding many environmental topics have undergone a shift in recent decades, from environmental protection and elimination of hazards to the enhancement of sustainability. Yet the concept of sustainability is critiqued for its vague definitions, playing host to competing value systems that are often poorly articulated. In parallel, the field of psychology has experienced a broadening of focus from psychopathologies to positive psychology, with its emphasis on enhancing psychological wellbeing. Using a framework of categories for positive psychology, we conceptualize changes in sustainability policy as a ‘positive orientation’ in environmental policy. Examples from various areas of environmental policy illustrate the differences in approach that have already taken place. The framework is then used to reconceptualize familiar tensions in sustainability policy, such as the need to articulate localized rather than globalized goals and the risks of greenwash, as outcomes of an uncritically positive approach. From a practical perspective, the positive orientation framework can encourage policy-makers to contextualize environmental issues within a broader system and thus ensure a holistic, indirectly and directly positive, policy response for the benefit of human and planetary wellbeing.

What is Policy Analytics? An Exploration of 5 Years of Environmental Management Applications.

Our digital age is characterized by both a generalized access to data and an increased call for participation of the public and other stakeholders and communities in policy design and decision-making. This context raises new challenges for political decision-makers and analysts in providing these actors with new means and moral duties for decision support, including in the area of environmental policy. The concept of "policy analytics" was introduced in 2013 as an attempt to develop a framework, tools, and methods to address these challenges. This conceptual initiative prompted numerous research teams to develop empirical applications of this framework and to reflect on their own decision-support practice at the science-policy interface in various environmental domains around the world. During a workshop in Paris in 2018, participants shared and discussed their experiences of these applications and practices. In this paper, we present and analyze a set of applications to identify a series of key properties that underpin a policy analytics approach, in order to provide the conceptual foundation for policy analytics to address current policy design and decision-making challenges. The induced properties are demand-orientedness, performativity, normative transparency, and data meaningfulness. We show how these properties materialized through these six case studies, and we explain why we consider them key to effective policy analytics applications, particularly in environmental policy design and decision-making on environmental issues. This clarification of the policy analytics concept eventually enables us to highlight research frontiers to further improve the concept.

Інвестиційні потреби та фінансування портової інфраструктури

The article emphasizes that very often the main benefits from port projects come from the wider community and the economy, rather than the port industry itself. This is especially true when ports invest in basic infrastructure to provide opportunities for future growth. In addition, a number of investment requirements have joined the ports' requirements to invest in basic infrastructure, as a result of broader societal imperatives, especially in the areas of environmental and energy policy. Ports, in addition to nodes of transport networks, are also sites for a number of activities that may require certain facilities. Based on this broad definition, it is possible to name different types of port infrastructure. There are twelve types of investment in infrastructure. Investments can relate to the construction of new infrastructure, as well as the modernization or reconstruction of existing infrastructure. In general, investments in maritime access benefit all port users, rather than specific segments and specific terminals in the port. Infrastructure investments are needed by seaports to increase their efficiency, address the growing and changing needs of production and supply chains, and adapt to the requirements of sustainable transport in terms of air quality, climate change and biodiversity. Increasing the size and complexity of the fleet. Growth of processing volumes in ports. Long-term transition to decarbonisation of the economy by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency and absorbing low-emission energy sources. Stricter requirements for environmental performance and absorption of alternative fuels. Pressure to increase the modal distribution of more sustainable modes of transport. Pressure towards urbanization of coastal areas, especially in densely populated areas. Strong digitization of almost all parts of the economy, including manufacturing, logistics and transport. Port management models and responsibility for infrastructure investments. Generalized trends lead to investment needs in port infrastructure. Decisions on these investments are made by various entities. This depends on the current model of port management, which differs significantly from one Member State to another. Investments in viable port infrastructure are those that are expected to be of great value (to the benefit of both consumers and society as a whole) in terms of their costs. However, not all viable investments bring the necessary financial return on investment to make them commercially attractive based on the commercial situation. Ports are strategic assets and are defined as "critical infrastructure"). The geopolitical dimension of port development reinforces the argument for public funding mechanisms, as the lack of such mechanisms will accelerate the participation of foreigners in the development of critical port infrastructure. It is necessary to form a platform with mechanisms for providing final support for port development and certain investments.

Economic regulation and market instruments for environmental protection, including fees for negative impacts

Based on the results of the analysis of the European and Russian experience of state regulation of environmental protection, in the article the author examines the possibilities of using economic instruments in the field of environmental policy. It is substantiated that some market instruments are able to bring the state income, which can either be directed to environmental protection expenditures, or used to compensate taxes on labor and capital. Environmental budget items are underfunded, despite the positive dynamics of environmental protection costs associated with the implementation of the national project “Ecology”. The author emphasizes the need for market regulation mechanisms, since they allow taking into account the interests of all participants in state policy: consumers, the state and producers. One of the topical areas of environmental policy is the establishment of a system for the sale of quotas for emissions of greenhouse gases, which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and stimulate the development of “green” technologies in the financial and industrial spheres.

High-resolution wall-to-wall land-cover mapping and land change assessment for Australia from 1985 to 2015

Computational and data handling limitations have constrained time-series analyses of land-cover change at high-spatial resolution over large (e.g., continental) extents. However, a new set of cloud-computing services offer an opportunity for improving knowledge of land change at finer grain. We constructed a historical set of seven high-resolution wall-to-wall land-cover maps at continental scale for Australia and analyzed temporal and spatial changes of land-cover from 1985 to 2015 at 5-year time-steps using Google Earth Engine (GEE). We used 281,962 Landsat scenes for producing median cloud-free composites at each time-step. We established a pseudo ground-truth dataset and used a PCA-based outlier detection method to reduce its uncertainty. A random forest model was trained at each time-step for classifying raw data into six land-cover classes: Cropland, Forest, Grassland, Built-up, Water, and Other areas, using 49 predictor datasets and nearly 20,000 training points. We further constructed uncertainty maps at each time-step as a proxy of per-pixel confidence. The average overall accuracy of the seven 30 m-resolution land-cover maps was ~93%. Built-up and Water areas displayed the highest user and producer accuracies (>93%), with Grasslands and Other areas slightly lower (~82–88%). Classification uncertainty was lower in more homogeneous landscapes (i.e., large expanses of a single land-cover class). Around 510,975 km2 (±69,877 km2) of land changed over the 30 years at an average of ~17,033 km2 yr−1 (±2329 km2 yr−1). Cropland and Forests declined by ~64,836 km2 (±16,437 km2) and ~ 152,492 km2 (±24,749 km2) over 30 years, mainly converting to Grassland. Built-up areas experienced the highest relative increases, increasing from 12,320 km2 in 1985 to 15,013 km2 in 2015 (~19.2%, ±3.1%). The sensitivity, i.e., proportion of pixels correctly classified as having changed, was over 96%, whereas the specificity, i.e., the proportion of pixels correctly classified as no-change, was over 68%. Numerous potential applications of these first-of-their-kind, detailed spatiotemporal maps of land use and land-change assessment exist spanning many areas of environmental impact assessment, policy, and management. Similarly, this methodological framework can provide a useful template for assessing continental-scale, high-resolution land dynamics more broadly.

Can EU Civil Society Elites Burst the Brussels Bubble? Civil Society Leaders’ Career Trajectories

The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as ‘revolving doors’ implying homogeneous social, educational, and professional backgrounds shared by both EU officials and CSO leaders. This article therefore asks the following questions: To what extent do the leaders of EU-based CSOs merely reproduce the types of capital that mirror those of the political elites in the so-called ‘Brussels bubble’? To what extent do the CSO leaders bring in other sets of capital and forms of recognition that are independent of the Brussels game? How can we explain differences in the salience of EU capital found across policy areas, types of leadership positions, and types of organizations? Empirically, this article qualitatively analyzes the career trajectories of 17 leaders of EU-based peak CSOs that are active in social and environmental policy areas. Despite the highly integrated and institutionalized characteristics shared by all organizations, we find diversity in the composition of the leaders in terms of the extent to which their career trajectories are embedded in the EU arena.