Coordinating environmental policy
During the last two decades of the twentieth century, science revealed man's growing impact on the environment. High profile research exposed a hole in the ozone layer and an increase in the Earth's average temperature. Many of these effects are undoubtedly due to man. But man has also taken steps to reduce his impact on the environment. Nations have come together to sign agreements to reduce emissions of harmful pollutants. Consequently, a number of environmental directives have been passed by the European Union in recent years. But setting policy and achieving targets are two different things. An important study was performed in four Northern European Member States (France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) to determine the effectiveness of these directives once implemented at national level. The main policy lesson to emerge from the study was that both policy and implementation must be adaptive. The policies must be adaptable to the ever changing conditions and requirements rather than set in stone. A decentralised approach was also found to be crucial. The Member States must have some degree of freedom as to how they chose to achieve the objectives set out for them. Another important result was the realisation that environmental policies are not individual entities. Policies interact with one another, both positively and negatively. New directives must take existing directives into account and work together with, not against them. It should be noted that the results of the study are biased toward the Northern European example. Further research is necessary to broaden the applicability of the policy lessons described herein. The partners are seeking new ways to propagate the useful results of this work to policy makers and governing bodies across Europe.
