The Western Australian regional forest agreement: economic rationalism and the normalisation of political closure

This article explores the constraints imposed by economic rationalism on environmental policy-making in light of Western Australia\u27s (WA) Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) experience. Data derived from interviews with WA RFA stakeholders shed light on their perceptions of the RFA process and its outcomes. The extent to which involvement of science and the public RFA management enabled is analysed. The findings point to a pervasive constrainedness of WA\u27s RFA owing to a closing of the process by the administrative decision-making structures. A dominant economic rationality is seen to have normalised and legitimised political closure, effectively excluding rationalities dissenting from an implicit economic orthodoxy. This article argues for the explication of invisible, economic constraints affecting environmental policy and for the public-cum-political negotiation of the points of closure within political processes

Regulation through Information: An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of State-sponsored Right-to-know Programs on Industrial Toxic Pollution

Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act requires all states to establish a system of local emergency planning committees to gather data on the hazardous materials used by local manufacturers and make that information available to inquiring citizens. However, Title III does not specify how proactive states must be in disseminating information on industrial toxins, nor does it provide any federal funds for such programs. Consequently, there is tremendous variation in how individual states have responded to Title III. An unresolved empirical issue is whether states with programs that actively promote public access to information on toxic chemicals are more successful in reducing industrial toxic pollution than states without such programs. Using data from the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, this study conducts a preliminary analysis of the effectiveness of the right-to-know programs in decreasing industrial toxic releases across the 50 American states. Contrary to the expectations of some pessimists, findings suggest that right-to-know programs reduce industrial toxic pollution without displacing the problem to other states. Copyright 1995 by The Policy Studies Organization.

Política ambiental, municípios e cooperação intergovernamental no Brasil

Neste artigo é realizada uma análise exploratória do papel das relações intergovernamentais nas iniciativas federais de defesa ambiental no Brasil do ponto de vista dos governos locais, na perspectiva federativa. A análise da agenda constitucional dos municípios fornece elementos para o exame de iniciativas do governo federal no campo ambiental por meio de exemplos selecionados. Conclui-se que seu êxito depende, em grande extensão, da adesão dos municípios, que têm uma condição única para combinar instrumentos típicos da institucionalidade ambiental com outros de seu uso exclusivo.The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of intergovernmental cooperation in federal environmental policies from the perspective of Brazilian local governments, considering Brazilian federal institutional framework. The analysis of the constitutional municipal agenda highlights that environmental defense activities provides the background for the analysis of selected examples of federal environmental policy. We conclude that federal success depends on a great extent on municipal support because they are in a unique position to combine the use of typical environmental strategies and instruments with policy instruments exclusive to municipalities

Sustainable Development Governance

Although local governments are becoming more active in pursuing environmental sustainability initiatives, understanding the participation mechanisms utilized by communities is critical for improving the management and success of sustainable development. Since sustainable development can also be relatively complex and requires specialized skills, a network of organizations can bolster the capacity of local governments to plan and implement sustainability initiatives. This study is intended to contribute to the literature on sustainability by presenting a conceptual model of sustainable development governance. This model focuses of collaboration among local governments, residents of the community, and organizations of a support network. On the basis of a national survey of U.S. cities, the authors present evidence on the extent to which cities utilize elements of the conceptual model. © SAGE Publications 2012