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Asian Environment Outlook 2001 : V. Call to Action : Regional Policy Recommendations
Institutional Reform Actions
Mainstream environmental concerns in sectoral agencies. Establish or strengthen national environmental
authority, including establishing broad-based national environmental and natural resource management
strategies and policies, organizing national participation in and compliance with international environmental
conventions and agreements; and setting minimum national environmental standards for certain types of
behavior or pollutants and overseeing the implementation of such regulations. The consistent
enforcement and imposition of penalties for unacceptable, environmentally damaging behavior (by
firms or citizens) is an essential underpinning of environmental policy, whether based on regulatory
restrictions, MBIs, or public accountability. Mainstream the environment within the private sector to focus on
changing values and lifestyles so that there is a positive change toward less energy- and materials-intensive
consumption patterns at the individual, community, and societal levels.
Set realistic and appropriate environmental standards and improve enforcement. Effective environmental
policy requires clear environmental performance standards that are consistently enforced. The process
of monitoring compliance should be designed with consideration to local context. The failures experienced
within the region in implement environmental policy are often traceable less to the policy tools themselves
(such as ambient air quality standards) than to a tendency to adopt these tools in rigid fashion.
Each government is expected to continue to build, strengthen, and maintain a sound national regulatory
foundation for its environmental compliance and enforcement programs. DMC governments can increase
the level of compliance by developing permits that are flexible, streamlined, and enforceable. The EIA process
needs to be linked to the permitting process. Permits ensure that undertakings provided by implementation
of EIAs will be adhered to and that the consequences of failure to meet those
commitments are clearly documented. Governments will also need to build
litigation processes into environmental laws to fully realize their environmental compliance and enforcement
objectives. Enforcement programs will normally involve a combination of informal and formal regulatory mechanisms.
Informal mechanisms include site visits, warning letters, and offers of technical assistance. The formal legal process may cover
administrative, judicial, or criminal sanctions. Other enforcement mechanisms include environmental liability provisions, litigation, stakeholder responsibility,
publicizing violations, compliance assistance, and enforcement communication. The true measure of success of an environmental compliance and
enforcement program depends on the willingness of the regulated community to voluntarily comply with
environmental requirements and standards.
Build the capacity of a new generation of institutions. Governments in the region are responsible
for leading the reform of existing institutions to respond to environmental problems more quickly, more
effectively, and more equitably. A new generation of environmental institutions will (i) integrate environmental concerns
into national and sectoral planning; (ii) devolve authority over environmental management where appropriate; (iii) increase
the transparency and accountability of government; and (iv) invest and otherwise encourage capacity building in
the environmental arena. Strengthen the capacity of line ministries so that they can understand and act on the most important
environmental dimensions of their sector. Decentralization should also be encouraged, including devolution of authority and responsibility for
provision of environmental services and the protection of environmental quality. DMCs should also consider creating the office of environmental ombudsman, a
public official to whom the citizens can report violations of environmental law. Governments need to spearhead
efforts to collect, standardize, and make available data and information at the national and local levels
prioritized according to the most pressing needs and not focus on the data and information easiest to collect. To assure financing for
environmental programs, earmarking of revenues raised from environmental charges is needed. Proceeds from appropriate MBIs
in the regulation of conventional power energy systems, for example, could finance and support “green energy” development.
Pollution fees and fines can be designated as revenues for investment in environmental improvement.
Use subregional planning approaches to address common problems or similarities of interests. Form
or strengthen subregional planning organizations to adequately address concerns related to globalization.
Economic globalization, trade agreements, and the participation of countries in the region in new global
economic governance mechanisms will likely have a greater environmental impact than their participation in
agreements specifically focused on the environment. The future of the global environment will depend
increasingly on compliance with international agreements or customary law by private agents within
states operating in national and global markets. Presently, counterpart domestic legislation mediates
between international law. Accordingly, private agents are regulated by domestic and not international
mechanisms (Ghosh 1999). Various intermediate possibilities between the extremes of strictly national enforcement
(as currently) and fullscale multilateral enforcement may need to be devised. Greater effort is needed to
promote inter-regional cooperation and adopt subregional groupings of countries to improve the quality of trans-boundary
analysis. The unique situation of Pacific DMCs, for example, has to be recognized. There is an opportunity
to identify and analyze common environmental and natural resource management issues among groups of countries and promote development
and dissemination of common solutions, particularly related to compensation for transboundary environmental damage.
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