Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
4.6 Local government
I have argued in this chapter that exclusive authority for decision-
making should not be devolved to local institutions and that regional
and national coordination is required because of the spatial shortcom-
ings of local government. In doing so, I may have given the impression
that a local political level would have no part to play in ecological gover-
nance other than as deliverer of national and regional policies. However,
this is certainly not the case. It is only through the provision of information
by bodies with a close connection to places and the people that inhabit
them that regional and national strategic plans, which are capable both of
implementation and of resolving ecological problems, can be developed.
It would be more accurate therefore to regard local governmental units
as the building blocks of a system of governance that is capable of forming
strategic responses to ecological concerns rather than as passive recipients
of decisions made at higher levels.
The organisation and coordination by local authorities of public
involvement with decision-making is also essential if the state is to achieve
its ecological objectives. The state
'
s ability to advance policies that would
affect signi
cant areas of private and collective life would be limited if it
were unable to secure public acceptance that proposed measures to reduce
anthropogenic pressures on ecosystem health are legitimate. 87 It is unlikely
either that acquiescence in, or involvement with, pursuing ecological
goals could be achieved by coercion. 88 The likely result of such an attempt
would be to stimulate levels of discontent that would preclude further
attempts at reform. Instead, the best available means by which a positive
attitude towards ecological change might be engendered is by creating
opportunities for the public to get involved with shaping the future of
their communities and contributing to the formation of plans at regional
and national levels. 89
The state can enhance its communicative capacity by creating possi-
bilities for public involvement with decision-making at different points
in a system of ecological governance. 90 However, local authorities are
87 Lundqvist,
'
Ecological Governance
'
,pp.148
-
9; Barry,
'
Rethinking Green Politics
'
,
pp. 104
-
7, 199
-
200, p. 206; Lundqvist,
'
A Green Fist
'
, 457.
88 Barry,
'
Rethinking Green Politics
'
, pp. 214, 226.
89 Lundqvist,
'
Ecological Governance
'
, pp. 10, 17
-
18; Dobson,
'
Green Political Thought
'
,
p. 110, Barry,
'
Rethinking Green Politics
'
,pp.219
-
20; Stallworthy,
'
Sustainability, Land
7.
90 Chapter 4, Section 4.4.2 .
Use
'
,pp.296
-
 
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