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of requirements for resources and the ability of different regions to meet
them, a clear potential for disproportionate demands to be placed on
resource-rich areas or on places which, because of an industrial past
or poor economic conditions, may be seen as more amenable or less
resistant to infrastructure development than af
uent areas.
54
An over-
viewing body would be in a position to recognise and address situations
of this kind. It would also be able to explore how this potential might be
avoided by exploring with resource-intensive regions whether there is
greater scope for reducing consumption or meeting demand through
their own resources, considering whether alternative spatial options to
clustering resource provision are available that would be less ecologically
consequential and more socially acceptable, and, failing this, to look
again at whether the country
s macro-economic structure is in need of
revision to provide for a more sustainable and fairer society.
Action by the state to coordinate planning processes in the interests of
environmental justice and in recognition that the reduction of stresses is
a shared goal would also encourage perception of ecological governance
as a fair system. In this regard, the ability of an overseeing body to
consider with the major consumers of resources how they might con-
tribute to the goal of ecological sustainability by reducing their levels of
consumption and increasing their own capacity to meet them would
promote acceptance of the system. As Barry observes with regard to
national taxation, people do not object to the existence of a tax burden
per se.
55
Opposition to taxation arises largely where the distribution of
the burden is manifestly unequal.
56
Inthesameway,thesigni
'
cant
changes in society that would result from the implementation of eco-
logical policies would be more likely to be accepted as long as the costs of
change are shared equitably throughout society and, of equal impor-
tance, if this can be seen to be the case.
57
4.4.4 An enforcing state
A risk inherent in distributing authority amongst different governmental
levels is that bodies with responsibility for decision-making will concen-
trate on, and prioritise, matters of immediate importance to the localities
54
Ibid
., pp. 128
-
31;J.Holder,
'
Building Spatial Europe: An Environmental Justice
Perspective
in J. Scott (ed.) Environmental Protection: European Law and Governance
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 119
'
-
22.
55
56
57
J. Barry,
'
Rethinking Green Politics
'
,p.214.
Ibid
.
Ibid
., pp. 213
-
14.
