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complex socioeconomic systems give rise to. They present solutions that
would be ideal if it were possible to start the design of a new system of
governance from a blank slate, but which, in practice, are unrealisable or
would address only the symptoms of ecological unsustainability in
particular places rather than striking at its roots. As Lundqvist notes in
arguing against a bioregional approach,
natural regions and areas are
today so interpenetrated and transgressed by linked human activities at
different spatial scales
'
cult to legitimise governance
arrangements whose form is dictated by what would be appropriate from
a purely ecological perspective.
13
Lipschutz also questions whether eco-
logically organised units in which
'
that it would be dif
'
history, economy, and nature would
(again) be mismatched
would provide any better basis for governance
than the arrangements we have in place already.
14
The clear conclusion is
that we need a system of governance which, in its geographical scope, in
the powers it confers on actors, and in the objectives it requires them to
observe and collectively achieve, provides a better
'
twiththecauses,
both direct and indirect, of ecological harm.
15
The second and related concern is that devolved units would be ill-
equipped to address external sources of harm. Ecological degradation is
driven by entrenched economic and social behaviours which can be
changed, if at all, only through a concerted effort at all governmental levels
and by non-governmental actors throughout society to reduce unsustain-
able levels of consumption. Similarly, threats to ecosystem health presented,
for example, by carbon emissions, acid rain and fertiliser run-off are no
respecters of jurisdictional boundaries and require collaboration between
different governmental levels if they are to be alleviated. As Barry observes
in questioning the effectiveness of
arguments for devolution,
the reality is that local units are unable to address most of the environmental
problems that confront society because these are predominantly
'
anarchistic
'
large-scale
and interrelated and cannot be decomposed into smaller components
'
.
16
'
13
Lundqvist,
'
Ecological Governance
'
,p.7.
14
R. D. Lipschutz,
'
Bioregionalism, Civil Society and Global Environmental Governance
'
in M. V. McGinnis (ed.) Bioregionalism (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 102
-
3.
15
V. Galaz et al.,
'
Environmental and Resource Regimes, and Broader Governance
Systems:
in O. R. Young, L. A. King and
H. Schroeder (eds) Institutions and Environmental Change: Principal Findings,
Applications and Research Frontiers (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), pp. 157
Insight and Emerging Challenges
'
-
60.
16
Barry,
'
Rethinking Green Politics
'
, p. 211. See also Dobson,
'
Trajectories of Green Political
Theory
The Greenest
Government Ever? Planning and Sustainability in England after the May 2010 Elections
'
,326;Galazetal ,
'
The Problem of Fit
'
, pp. 175
-
7; R. Cowell,
'
'
(2013) 28 Planning Practice and Research,33
-
4.
