A Handbook Of Approaches To Environmental Policy Analysis In Southern Africa

A critical analysis of the post-Rio consensus on environment and development which questions the role of particular forms of internationalized elite scientific expertise. It asks why certain understandings of environmental change stick with such tenacity. In exploring this, the authors unravel the politics of knowledge surrounding policymaking, looking particularly at Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe and their land and soils management. The book also looks at prospects for more inclusive, participatory forms of policymaking.

Policy evaluation is an important and well-established part of the policy process, facilitating and feeding back to promote the ongoing effectiveness of policies that have been implemented or anticipating policies in the making. Environmental policy is a special case, presenting new complexities uncommon to other areas, which standard evaluation tools are ill-equipped to grapple with. It is also an area that is experiencing rapid growth throughout the world and knowledge is now needed at all levels of government and in NGOs, businesses and other organizations, all of whom are required to assess the effectiveness of their policies.This handbook is the first guide to environmental policy evaluation in practice. Beginning with an introduction to the general principles of evaluation, it explains the particular complexities native to the environmental sphere and provides a comprehensive toolkit of evaluation methods and techniques which the practitioner can employ and refer to again and again. The authors also consider design issues which may face the policy evaluator, including involvement of stakeholders, the sensitivities between them, the a priori assessment of the evaluability of a field, the maximization of the utilization of the evaluations outcomes, and much more. Throughout, the theory is illustrated with practical examples from around the world, making this the essential companion guide for anyone tasked with ensuring that environmental policy fulfils its aims and achieves its potential.

This first Handbook in a series of three original reference works looks at globally contentious urban policy issues from a wide variety of different angles and perspectives. Matters related to urban densification, population mobility, urban inequality and sustainability are analysed in a manner that will not only interest the advanced student but also the novice. Urban policy covers a vast field. This first volume combines chapters covering three broad themes: policy issues pertaining to the spatial aspects of the city; social and mobility issues; and issues of urban governance. The spotlight initially falls on urban structure, urban densification, the disappearing urban/rural divide, the urban economic landscape and the transformation of socialist economies. The Handbook then goes on to focus on migration, social mobility, crime, terrorism and social inequality. Finally, urban sustainability and urban governance come under the spotlight. Integration of the planning process, flexibilities in infrastructure and areas of neglect in environmental management feature strongly in this section of the Handbook. Books of this nature are often slanted in one particular direction: however, this Handbook's approach is different. Not only has the editor avoided shying away from politically sensitive issues but contributions have also been included that reflect distinct differences of opinion on politically sensitive issues – hence the volume's subtitle of 'contentious global issues'. As a Handbook, the chapters have been written not only for the advanced student and academics but also with undergraduate students in mind. The Handbook will appeal to scholars and researchers of geography and urban and development planning, demography and social science and environmental scientists for the focus on urban sustainability issues.

With Africa's water resources constantly threatened by an increasing population and the resultant rise in water demand, together with the stresses of water use for various activities, desertification, climate change, and other interventions in the water cycle by man, it is vital that the water resources in arid and semi-arid regions are developed a

A critical analysis of the post-Rio consensus on environment and development which questions the role of particular forms of internationalized elite scientific expertise. It asks why certain understandings of environmental change stick with such tenacity. In exploring this, the authors unravel the politics of knowledge surrounding policymaking, looking particularly at Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe and their land and soils management. The book also looks at prospects for more inclusive, participatory forms of policymaking.

Analyses of environmental economics and case studies that illustrate the importance of environmental management provide an expert perspective on the integration of economic theories and environmental challenges in this treatise on implementing policies that support sustainable development.

This study was conducted in South Africa. South Africa is the first country within the Southern African Development Community to have regulated plastic shopping bags waste through the imposition of both a standard on thickness and a levy. Given this scenario, the Plastic Bags Regulations present an illustrative case for researching complexity, uncertainty and controversies surrounding a new trend in environmental policy making, namely waste product regulation. The thesis focuses on understanding and investigating tensions, debates and responses emerging from the policy process as actors and actor-networks put not only the Plastic Bags Regulations into circulation as focal actant (token) but also other actants and actant-networks as well. To this end, a research question that addressed environmental policies, tensions, debates and responses that informed the development of South Africa s Plastic Bags Regulations was spelt out. The research objectives included the need to: (1) analyse selected international environmental policy processes surrounding plastic shopping bags litter and waste regulation and how these influenced developments in South Africa; (2) identify actors, actants and actor/actant-networks that shaped and were being transformed by South Africa s Plastic Bags Regulations and explain the tensions, debates and responses arising in the policy processes; (3) identify environmental policy outputs and assess outcomes emerging from the formulation and implementation of South Africa s Plastic Bags Regulations; and (4) establish patterns in environmental policy process reforms around South Africa s Plastic Bags Regulations. The language of actors (human), actants (non-human) and actor/actant-networks brings to the fore the aspects of processes and relationships that exist around them. As such, insights from the actor/actant-network theory (AANT) were drawn upon to inform the research. AANT enquiry framework collapses binaries such as nature/society, art/science, structure/agency and global/local historically associated with a particular type of social theory. AANT also denies that purely technical, scientific or social relations are possible (the notion of quasi-objects or token). Data sets were generated following the Plastic Bags Regulations as token actant with time frames ranging from prior to, during and after the formulation of the regulations. Similarly, data analysis drew insights from AANT s four moments of translation namely problematisation, interessement, enrolment and mobilisation, with the intervention theory providing an evaluative perspective that complemented AANT. The findings were that after the promulgation of the first draft of the Plastic Bags Regulations in May 2000, tensions emerged around the nature of regulation (whether command and control preferred by government or self regulation preferred by industry and labour). In this regard the latter group raised concerns about jobs, income and equipment loss as well as the need to have a holistic approach to waste management rather than targeting a single product at a time whilst the former maintained that this would not be so. As such, education, awareness and stringent antilitter penalties were proposed by industry and labour as sustainable responses to the problem of plastic shopping bags waste rather than regulation. These debates continued and resulted in minor amendments to the original regulations as finalised by Government in May 2002. However, industry and labour continued lobbying government resulting in the conclusion of the Plastic Bags Agreement in September 2002 and the ultimate repulsion of the May 2002 regulations in May 2003. As revealed by this research, these responses led to broader social responses and further tensions as demand for plastic shopping bags went down by about 80% although an estimated 1000 jobs were lost and a number of companies lost equipment and business (with some closing down) following the implementation of