Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
and Development (OECD) and EU countries during the last two deca-
des.
50
This is a response, in part, to calls for integration of environmental
considerations into decision-making in connection with the sustainable
development agenda.
51
However, this has not always resulted in a higher
pro
le for environmental objectives in policy formation with Adelle
and Weiland reporting in 2012 that these
'
may or may not be a signi
-
.
52
Even where
policy assessment processes require that environmental goals and impacts
should be taken into account in policy-making, these are often given a
much lower pro
cant feature of a policy assessment system, if present at all
'
le than analysis of the economic bene
ts of policy and of
regulatory ef
ciency that have had a stronger in
uence on the evolution of
policy assessment practices.
53
It is fair to conclude that environmental policy assessment remains,
as Boothroyd described it in 1995,
'
conceptually, practically and termi-
.
54
Ifthereistobemeaningfulprogresstowards
ecological sustainability, a new model for policy assessment is required
under which policy options are identi
'
nologically inchoate
ed and assessed in terms of goals
for ecological protection. I concur with Boothroyd
sargumentthat
policy assessment should consist not only of exploring policy
'
s unin-
tended impacts, but also of its effectiveness for attaining and consistency
with its objectives.
55
The framework I propose provides for the latter in
its requirements for alternatives assessment and for the independent
review of policy proposals. It also provides for the former at two stages:
'
50
C. Adelle and S. Weiland,
'
Policy Assessment: The State of the Art
'
(2012) 30 Impact
Assessment and Project Appraisal,25
-
27.
51
Ibid
., 26.
52
,
EVIA (Evaluating Integrated Impact Assessments) Policy Brieng, Project No. 028889,
European Commission, Sixth Framework Programme (
2008
).
53
Adele and Weiland,
Ibid
., 25 and 27. See also K. Jacob et al.,
'
Improving the practice of impact assessment
'
The Politics of
Sustainable Development in UK Government: What Role for Integrated Policy Appraisal?
'
Policy Assessment
'
, 28; D. Russel and J. Turnpenny,
'
'
(2009) 27 Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 349; J. Hertin, K. Jacob
and A. Volkery,
in A. Jordan and A. Lenschow (eds) Innovation in
Environmental Policy? Integrating the Environment for Sustainability (Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar, 2008), p. 130; Jacob et al.,
'
Policy Appraisal
'
'
Improving Impact Assessment
'
,p.5.
54
P. Boothroyd,
in F. Vanclay and D. A. Bronstein (eds) Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment (Chichester: John Wiley, 1995), p. 93. Similar conclusions are
reached in Hertin et al.,
'
Policy Assessment
'
'
Policy Appraisal
'
, pp. 126
-
30 and in Jordan and Lenschow,
'
Environmental Policy Integration
'
,152
-
3.
55
Boothroyd,
'
Policy Assessment
'
, p. 105. See also P. Boothroyd,
'
Integrating Economy,
Society and Environment through Policy Assessment
in R. Woollard and A. Ostry (eds)
Fatal Consumption: Rethinking Sustainable Development (Vancouver: University of
British Columbia Press, 2000), pp. 130
'
-
65.