The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons Proceedings of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
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19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades
19 Influence of American NGOs on Environmental Decisions and Policies: Evolution Over Three Decades
Pages 141-160
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From page 141... ...
environmental policy has moved Tom federally-dominant regulation to concern for efficiency-based reform efforts and flexibility, and finally to a concentration on how best to pursue the goal of sustainable development through a diversity of policy tools such as market-based incentives and public-private partnerships. Particular emphasis is given to the use of technical information and scientific expertise by environmental NGOs and to a shift from adversarial to collaborative and participatory strategies at all levels of government.
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From page 142... ...
Most of the key policies were approved within a ten-year period: 1970 to 1980. These include the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and significant actions in 1976 to control
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From page 143... ...
environmental policy for the rest of the twentieth century. The emphasis was to be on federally-dominant "command-and-control" policy, with the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
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From page 144... ...
and thereby control pollution and abuse of natural resources. Given those purposes and the political climate at the time, little thought was given to the costs of environmental policy or to the difficulties of implementation.
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A lasting legacy of this era was the need to justify environmental policy actions through analysis of economic impacts and through provision of strong scientific analysis such as quantitative risk assessments. Both concerns continue to this day.8 In this sense, this second era or epoch could be called a searching for efficiency-based regulatory reform and greater flexibility in environmental regulations.
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From page 146... ...
In addition, this second period saw much activity by business organizations and government agencies directed at pollution prevention, additional gains in environmental information and databases, and the beginnings of a more collaborative approach to environmental policy. These activities and developments have been widely discussed, generally in a very favorable light.9 Examples abound.
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From page 147... ...
Developers, citizen groups, environmentalists, and government officials reached agreement on a plan designed both to conserve the habitat of endangered and threatened species and to offer a reasonable level of economic development in the region. Development of a comprehensive plan to help restore the Florida Everglades similarly illustrates the potential of these new policy strategies.
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From page 148... ...
At the same time, public officials must be receptive to concerns voiced by the public and scientists. If the experience of the United States is pertinent, the concept of sustainable development may provide a vehicle for bringing policymakers, scientists, and citizens together to discuss environmental problems of concern and their relationship to social and economic issues.
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From page 149... ...
TABLE 1 From Environmental Protection to Sustainable Communities Regulating for Efficiency-Based Toward Sustainable Environmental Regulatory Reform Communities Protection and Flexibility 1990-onward 1970-1990 1980-1990s Problem pollution caused managing pollution bringing into identification primarily by callous through market-based harmony human and and and unthinking and collaborative natural systems on a policy business and industry mechanisms sustainable basis objectives establish as national subject balance long-term priority the curtailment environmental societal and natural of air, water, and land regulations to cost- system needs through pollution caused by effectiveness test system design and industry and other internalize pollution management human activity costs rediscover/emphasis · pursue economically on resource optimal use of conservation resources and energy halt diminution of introduce pollution biodiversity prevention embrace an eco add policies on toxic centric ethic waste and chemicals as national priorities Implementation develop the shift to state and develop new philosophy administrative and local level for mechanisms and regulatory legal initiative in institutions that balance infrastructure to ensure compliance and the needs of human and compliance with enforcement natural systems, both federal and state create market within the U.S. and regulations mechanisms for around the globe protection of the environment
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150 Regulating for Environmental Protection 1970-1990 end of the production pipeline end of the waste stream at the point of local, state, and federal governmental activity Efficiency-Based Regulatory Reform and Flexibility 1980-1990s the market-place, which serves as the arbiter of product viability provide education and training at several points along the cradle-to-grave path of materials and resource use Toward Sustainable Communities 1990-onward Points of intervention Policy approaches and "tools" Information and data management needs policy managed by Washington, DC command-and-control regulation substantial federal technology R&D generous federal funding of health and pollution prevention projects firm-level emissions · waste stream contents and tracking human health effects environmental compliance accounting in industry societal level needs assessment and goal prioritization industry-level attention to product design, materials selection, and environmental strategic planning individual behavior and life-style choices · policy managed more by states and affected communities federal role shifts to facilitation and oversight introduction of incentive-based approaches (taxes, r tees, emissions trading) for business and industry creation of emissions- trading markets costing out environmental harms and benefits of reduced pollution provision of readily accessible emissions data, e.g., through Toxics Release Inventory and rightto-know programs professional protocols for environmental accounting in industry ecosystem mapping comprehensive future visioning regional planning based on sustainability guidelines Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM)
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From page 151... ...
..... Regulating for Environmental Protection 1970-1990 rule of law adversarial relations zero-sum politics focus on national regulatory agencies and enforcement mechanisms Efficiency-Based Regulatory Reform and Flexibility 1980-1990s alternative dispute resolution techniques greater stakeholder and public participation, especially, at the state and local level · reliance on the market place Toward Sustainable Communities 1990-onward Predominant political/ institutional context Key events and public actions Santa Barbara oil spill Earth Day passage of the 1970 CAA and 1972 CWA passage of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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of 1947, PL 92-516 Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, PL 92-532 Marine Mammal Protection Act, PL 92-522 Coastal Zone Management Act, PL 92-583 Noise Control Act, PL 92-574 Endangered Species Act, PL 93-205 Safe Drinking Water Act, PL 93-523 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) , PL 94-580 Toxic Substances Control Act, PL 94-469 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, PL 94-579 National Forest Management Act, PL 94-588 Clean Air Act Amendments, PL 95-95 Clean Water Act (CWA)
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2000. Environmental Groups and the New Political Landscape, in Environmental Policy, 4~ ea., Norman J
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Effort at Ecosystem Restoration, with Extensive Stakeholder Involvement, Collaboration, and Negotiation Among Multiple Levels of Government, Environmental NGOs, and the Business Community. Restoration will take place over the next three decades or more.
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This also means an ability to understand how economic, social, and environmental goals interrelate to form a basis for sustainable development. Scientific expertise and modeling exercises can help build such goals and public understanding.
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World Resources Institute, with links to international environmental and governmental organizations. Environmental Defense Fund site for extensive environmental data by city or zip code.
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Sierra Club Defenders of Wildlife Environmental Defense (formerly Environmental Defense Fund) Friends of the Earth Greenpeace International Izaak Walton League of America National Audubon Society National Parks and Conservation Association The Nature Conservancy Natural Resources Defense Council Wilderness Society World Wildlife Federation Earth First!
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2 In this paper environmental NGOs are assumed to be those nongovernmental organizations that are supportive of environmental protection policies. These include environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense, and the National Wildlife Federation as well as many public health groups such as the American Lung Association.
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From page 159... ...
10 For one assessment of how environmental NGOs worked closely with industry and government officials in a local case involving water quality in a river basin and remediation of PCBcontaminated sediments, see Kraft, Michael E Clean Water and the Promise of Collaborative Decision Making: The Case of the Fox-Wolf Basin in Wisconsin, in Toward Sustainable Communities, Mazmanian and Kraft, eds.
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