Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
Environmental policies are the principles of action proposed and adopted to conserve and manage natural resources. This has traditionally been a prerogative of the government, although it has more recently been perceived as a broad subject requiring direct involvement of other stakeholders to include corporate sector, non-governmental organizations, individuals and communities. Environmental policies are mainly concerned with regulation and policy in terms of governing the relationship between the natural environment and humans in a mutually beneficial manner. Traditionally, these policies have been understood in term of the problems they address, such as limiting habitat loss, and controlling waste flows and pollution. However, there is a new appreciation that environmental policies are only genuinely successful when they sensitively integrate with other policy areas and sectors. This has allowed environmental policy to develop into a wider policy supporting sustainable human development (Mayer & Zahar, 2021). This paper discusses how consideration of non-environmental issues affect environmental policies. Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
ORDER HERE A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER
Why have nations of the world focused efforts on these nonenvironmental issues?
The focus on non-environmental issues has been galvanized by the need to present a green economy. In this case, a green economy is defined as a socially inclusive, resource efficient and low carbon economy. In developing a green economy, there is an expectation that the environmental issues would be addressed even as employment and income growth are driven by private and public investments in economic assets, infrastructure and activities that prevent loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, enhance resource and energy efficiency, and reduced pollution and carbon emissions. These investments in a green economy are enabled and supported through targeted policy reforms, public expenditure, and changes in regulation and taxation (Soytaş & Sari, 2019).
The focus on non-environmental issues is targeted at promoting a development paths that understands natural capital as a critical source of public benefits and economic capital, especially for the members of the community who depend on natural resources for their livelihood. As such, the focused effort on non-environmental issues is targeted at achieving a green economy does not replace sustainable development, but creates a new focus on positive social and environmental outcomes, employment and skills, capital and infrastructure, investment, and economy (Chander, 2018).
Why do these nonenvironmental issues take precedence over the creation and enforcement of environmental policy?
Non-environmental issues that focus on sustainable development, and environmental issues the focus on the need to protect and preserve the environment are parallel objectives. In fact, the focus on non-environmental issues takes environmental considerations into account. The broad consensus on environmental protection and goals supports the view that non-environmental policy settings should consider public well-being in addition to the aim of meeting sustainability goals and promoting economic growth. To be more precise, environmental issues and challenges (such as climate change) are systematic and cut across other non-environmental policy issues and domain, going beyond traditional environmental mandates (Sabel & Victor, 2022). Focusing on non-environmental issues ensures that environmental objectives are reinforced. In this case, the non-environmental issues are ‘greened’ through coherence with and integration of environmental issues to ensure that they have a positive environmental impact. Greening in non-environmental issues accelerates and consolidates sustainable changes in both production and consumption patterns, even as it promotes a green economy and resources efficiency (Chander, 2018). As such, efforts to address environmental issues would require wider action that encompasses non-environmental issues. Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
Is there regional and national political opposition to the adoption of international environmental policy, due to fears of its impact on other policy areas?
The idea that regional and national political bodies inevitably oppose the adoption of international environmental policies is not hard to accept. Regional and national governments operate in the context of environmental policies that can affect the local government decisions relevant to environmental issue through regulations and, shaping political will on issues and approaches, and allocation of resources. Among the more widely recognized policies are the international policies to which the national government is a signatory. But the environmental policies are affected by other policy areas, ranging from housing to criminal justice and land use, all being relevant to the environmental issues (Mayer, 2018). International environmental policies have produced both winners and losers. That is because they result in unequal distribution of benefits, which raises concern. A chief criticism of international policies is that they have an overall benefit-generating nature, that unfortunately may negatively impact other policy areas in regional and national geographies (Jepsen et al., 2021). As a result, while the general benefits of international environmental policies have been immeasurable, they are distant and diffused, with some geographies paying more than they benefit.
In fact, regional and national policies can vary significantly over time and across geographical areas in establishing priorities, encouraging collaborations and providing barriers. Should the local and international priorities vary, then the international policies would be considered as barriers to addressing priority local issues. On the other hand, if the international policies provide opportunities to promote prioritized local issues, then they would receive local political support. This makes it clear that policy context shapes the levers available to the local political systems, thus determining support and opposition for the policies (Kellow, 2018). It is reasonable to assume that local government’s awareness of the implications of international environmental policies informs their ability to determine if the policies support or hinder efforts to address other priority areas. Overall, if the international environment policies do not support priority policy areas, then they are likely to face regional and national political opposition. Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
Are these fears legitimate, and should they be taken into account?
This discussion makes it clear that international policies – especially those articulated in multilateral agreements – are unlikely to effectively tackle local problems. In addition, it makes it clear that local priority issues may be in conflict with the international policies. Besides that, not all local environmental threats trigger international responses, and would be better served by regional and national responses. The fear of international environmental policies is that they may present an unacceptable costs and their impact on other policy areas. When the local geographies must grapple with the international policies, they develop a good grasp of their real costs and what it takes to be compliant. This motivates them to address their environmental issues with local solutions that take into account other priority policy areas (Chander, 2018).
What are the ethical and legal implications of these policy conflicts between environmental policy and other types of policies? Is it possible to resolve these conflicts?
The policy conflict between environmental policies and other types of policies implies that the local governments must make difficult decisions on what policy issues would be prioritized. This implies that some issues may be addressed while others are ignored, a real concern when the issue of resource limitations is considered. This creates salient ethical and legal conflicts on the prospect for allocating responsibility and blame. Even with the best controls targeting specific outcomes, the actual policy effects remain unknown until they occur. With some policies being prioritized over others, it means that some policy areas would be ignored. The result is that some harm may result in which case there would be a need to allocate responsibility and assign blame. These conflicts can be addressed by framing the policies with clear language that allocates ethical and legal responsibilities and blame (Chander, 2018). Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
References
Chander, P. (2018). Game Theory and Climate Change. Columbia University Press.
Jepsen, H., Lundgren, M., Monheim, K., & Walker, H. (Eds.) (2021). Negotiating the Paris Agreement: The Insider Stories. Cambridge University Press.
Kellow, A. (2018). Negotiating Climate Change: A Forensic Analysis. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Mayer, B. (2018). The International Law on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, B., & Zahar, A. (Eds.) (2021). Debating Climate Law. Cambridge University Press.
Sabel, C., & Victor, D. (2022). Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World. Princeton University Press.
Soytaş, U., & Sari, R. (2019). Rout
Environmental policy does not exist in a vacuum and often comes into conflict with other international policies, such as energy policies, and other political issues.
For this assignment, you will examine how environmental policy has been curtailed or inhibited based on nationsâ€
preference for other issues such as energy dependability, and by political issues such as global instability, along with economic concerns over the impact of environmental policy. Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment
ORDER TODAY
Address the following:
Why have nations of the world focused efforts on these nonenvironmental issues?
Why do these nonenvironmental issues take precedence over the creation and enforcement of environmental policy?
Is there regional and national political opposition to the adoption of international environmental policy, due to fears of its impact on other policy areas?
Are these fears legitimate, and should they be taken into account?
What are the ethical and legal implications of these policy conflicts between environmental policy and other types of policies? Is it possible to resolve these conflicts? Impact of Environmental Policy Essay Assignment