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itself become the subject of regulation.
147
The reforms that I propose in
this section are intended to promote adaptation of this culture to one
in which, whilst
exibility remains over choosing which economic and
social goals to pursue, it is recognised that the maintenance of ecosystem
health places a ceiling on what can be achieved in these spheres of
action.
The enactment of laws which require that the functionality of ecosys-
tems be prioritised in decision-making would go some way to changing
current practice. Entrenching legal obligations for government to review
policy would, as has been argued in the context of strategic environmental
assessment,
148
be an essential
rst step towards ensuring that ecological
factors are taken into account in policy formation. Responsibility should
be given for the
review and, as part of this, for
assessing alternatives, creating strategies and developing policies based on
them to a cross-governmental body.
149
This would help to create a new
culture of ecological orientation in the way policy is formed as long as the
initiative enjoys support at the highest levels of government and the body
is involved from the earliest stages of policy development. Experience with
the establishment of inter-ministerial groups in connection with attempts
to
'
whole of government
'
sustainability in political decision-making indicates
that coordinating institutions must possess both of these attributes if
their establishment is to result in outcomes that advance cross-cutting
objectives.
150
Additional institutional reforms should also, as I argue in
the following sections, be made to establish the new culture of decision-
making as one which policy-makers, however alien it may seem to them,
must adapt to, and to overcome any lingering hostility to the restriction of
political powers.
'
mainstream
'
3.4.2.1 The rolling review of policy
The
rst reform I propose is that the review of governmental action in
different policy areas should be conducted at regular intervals. Establishing
the
'
'
whole of government
review as a recurring process would promote
147
Connor and Dovers,
'
Strategic Environmental Assessment
'
,p.167.
148
Buckley,
'
Strategic Environmental Assessment
'
,p.80;Sheateetal.,
'
Integrating the
Environment
'
,14.
149
Jordan and Lenschow,
'
Environmental Policy Integration
'
,151;Ross,
'
Sustainable
Development
'
,pp.102
-
9, 113
-
4.
150
Jordan and Lenschow,
'
Environmental Policy Integration
'
, 150
-
1; Ross,
'
Sustainable
Development
'
,pp.102
-
7.
