Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Ecological planning
5.1 Introduction
Envisioning how the objectives of ecological governance might be
advanced would, in itself, be a futile process if the visions formed are
not shaped by an awareness of what can be achieved in practice and over
what timescales. It would also be of limited value if the state is unable to
enjoin non-governmental actors to participate in their realisation.
Mechanisms are needed that require public bodies to identify possibil-
ities for stress reduction, and to prepare plans that lay down how these
are to be employed. They should also, to the fullest extent possible,
promote the implementation of plans by requiring adherence to them,
and by preventing spatial and natural resource uses that would be
incompatible with ecological values.
In this chapter I propose a legal framework for planning that serves
these purposes in two respects. First, it obliges actors in governance at
all levels to form plans for implementing ecological policies that seek
to reduce reliance on current practices and to replace them with less-
stressful alternatives. The principal purpose of planning is to mirror the
'
employed in policy-making (i.e., preferences for
reducing consumption, increasing the ef
top-line approach
'
ciency of resource use and
substitution)
1
by exploring how patterns of socioeconomic activity can
be changed to alleviate the pressures that they place on the environment,
and by examining scope for deploying preferred policy options. The
resulting plans will lay down strategies for progressing an ecological
transition nationally and in regions and localities. The plans would be
given legal force by a presumption in decision-making that proposed
development should be consistent with the pathways to sustainability
that they present. Second, it establishes principles and rules that promote
the avoidance of ecological harm (again in line with the
'
top-line
