Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The second is a process of strategy formation that examines how pre-
ferred options can be deployed, the policy measures that would support
this deployment, the con
icts with economic and social policies and values
that ecologically oriented policies would give rise to, and the additional
measures that could be applied to address them, including staggering the
timescales for policy implementation.
34
This strategic stage of policy-
making re
s forward-looking nature in its use
of backcasting techniques to analyse the feasibility of moving towards a
desired endpoint (in this case scenarios in which progressive stress reduc-
tion is being achieved) and to identify the policy levers that could be used to
promote its realisation.
35
The policy-making framework is complemented by the legal structures
for strategic planning that I present in
Chapter 5
. These lay down proce-
dures for a corresponding investigation of how ecologically oriented poli-
cies can be implemented, and the extent to which this can be done in ways
that are themselves compatible with the objectives of ecological gover-
nance. They also provide fora within which representatives of local and
regional governmental authorities and members of the public can collab-
orate in exploring how patterns of living could be altered with a view to
revising or, where necessary, replacing unsustainable practices. The legal
framework for planning employs mechanisms for alternatives assessment
to promote the use of preferred policy options in strategic planning and
to prioritise land uses that would be least likely to have negative eco-
logical impacts.
36
It also establishes decision rules that set
ects normative precaution
'
rm limits on
environmental exploitation by making clear the circumstances in which
proposed development would or would not be regarded as being eco-
logically tolerable.
37
The alternatives assessment stage of policy formation uses qualitative
criteria to support the analysis and ranking of policy options.
38
Activities
are assessed by reference to a range of considerations that explore whether
they are likely to be compatible with, or pose a threat to, ecosystem health.
This approach is necessary because of the problems noted above with
predicting systemic reactions to disturbance. It is, in any event, well-suited
to a system of governance that is founded on ecological values. The broader
analysis of compatibility with the system
s goals displays a due caution in
our relationship with the environment that is not apparent in regulatory
'
34
Chapter 3,
Section 3.3.4
.
35
36
Chapter 5,
Sections 5.2.4
and
5.3
.
Ibid
.
37
Chapter 5,
Section 5.3.5
.
38
Chapter 3,
Section 3.3.3
.
