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Asian Environment Outlook 2001 : V. Call to Action : Regional Policy Recommendations
Governance Reform Actions
Foster strong political will in the DMCs. Strong political will at the national, regional, and global levels
is needed to break the barriers to governance. Barriers include indifference or active resistance by parties that seek private gain from the
status quo and the prevalence of patron-client relations as a driver of decision making in some DMCs. The bedrock of
good governance, environmental or otherwise, is capable, credible, fair, accountable, and efficient government.
Fostering stronger political will depends on strong systems of democratic participatory governance and a system of
performance-based rewards within government. Policy makers will generally have a natural tendency to make
only minimal changes when political will is weak.
Empower civil society to make decisions and pursue implementation of environmentally sustainable development. Sustainability depends on
citizen support, without which good leaders cannot assume positions of authority. Governments need to
engage civil society in the decision making process and allow them more and specific responsibilities for
environmental management. Civil society can be given the capacity and mandate to undertake environmental
monitoring and hold concerned public and private sector institutions accountable for the environment and
compliance with environmental quality standards. Governments can then balance their enlistment of the special skills and
perspective of civil society groups with their own responsibility to see the “big picture” and to balance the needs of all stakeholders.
Governments at the national and local levels assuming new roles as “enablers” and “convenors” can strategically interact with
civil society and business groups in the pursuit of environmental goals. An important adjunct to effective civil society
participation is the development of an information access policy that provides needed information in a timely manner.
Promote public disclosure of information about environmental performance. Governments should
collect and make available information on the costs of environmental degradation (such as EIAs and life-cycle
analyses) to both policy makers and the public. Effective policy implementation could come about through
industry benchmarking, an important tool for identifying leaders and laggards in environmental performance and
a firm, farm, or fishery operations that lag behind industry standards. In the region, industry benchmarks need to be developed
by industry associations, separately or jointly with government for the use of energy, materials, resource, and intensity
of pollution. To fully harness the potential of rapidly advancing information technology, governments need to shift from
national policies that excessively regulate this technology toward liberalization and deregulation of such technology. In the
DMCs, the issues of an ever-widening digital divide and the need for mechanisms to bridge this divide within and between countries are
of utmost concern. Promoting a free press is one of the most effective ways to expose environmental problems caused by or linked to government policy. The Internet
could also be used to set up “global public policy networks” and mechanisms for encouraging environmental dialogue at the national, regional, and
global levels. An inter-regional technology network can also be organized.
Establish multistakeholder partnerships. Partnerships are important because environmental issues are
so extensive and complex that the government cannot succeed acting alone. Partnerships become a critical
mechanism for policy integration. The prospects for establishing such partnerships for sustainable development
in the region are very good and will be realized sooner if strongly supported by international collaboration.
A key to building partnerships is reordering government priorities and a true commitment to sustainable
development that places the human and physical environment high on the agenda of all branches of government,
not just on the agenda of those traditionally involved with environmental regulation. Institutional confidence, which is characterized by
technical and financial capacity; a clear and comprehensive framework for action; and absence of a “turf” orientation are necessary if agencies are to
establish partnerships with other government agencies, the private sector, and civil society. External funding agencies can help encourage partnerships by providing
opportunities for participation of both parties in project or program design. Dialogues and other forms of exchange will create linkages between the government’s
development agenda and the NGO’s agenda. In the industry sector, the promotion of clean development in the Asia and Pacific region will require a new type of
development platform based on shared interests and goals and involving a broad and deeply rooted partnership among business, government, NGOs,
development institutions, and the research and policy community.
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