Overcoming Obstacles in Environmental Policymaking

Creating Partnerships Through Mediation

By John K. Gamman

Subjects: Environmental Politics, Third World Studies, Political Science, International Relations, International Environmental Studies
Series: SUNY series in International Environmental Policy and Theory
Paperback : 9780791422083, 250 pages, December 1994
Hardcover : 9780791422076, 250 pages, December 1994

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Table of contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations and Acronyms

1. Environmental Policy Implementation: The Nature of the Problem and Some Difficult Questions

2. An Introduction to the Failures and Complexities of Environmental Policies

3. Interest Groups and the Politics of Exclusion

4. The Impact of Cultural Differences

5. The Importance of Economic Conditions

6. Development Assistance Agencies

7. Suggestions for Strengthening Environmental Policy Implementation

Appendix: Resources and Methods

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Description

This book examines why policies and laws intended to protect the environment often do not work. In particular, Gamman addresses the fundamental reasons why efforts to protect natural resources in the developing world generally fail. He describes why environmental initiatives originating in national governments, international foreign assistance agencies, and environmental groups suffer from a dysfunctional decision making process. And he suggests how to improve environmental policymaking by creating partnerships for sustainable development, showing how to do this with a step-by-step negotiation process.

John K. Gamman is Principal of CONCUR, Collaborative for Environmental Analysis and Conflict Resolution, in Santa Cruz and Berkeley, California.

Reviews

"In Overcoming Obstacles John Gamman demonstrates quite nicely that the consensus-building techniques gaining popularity in the United States are equally valid in the developing world. We will never operationalize the concept of sustainability if we do not follow Gamman's advice and establish new political partnerships. " — Lawrence Susskind

"Overcoming Obstacles in Environmental Policymaking deserves the attention of everyone concerned with implementing Agenda 21, ratified during the Earth Summit. It is a much needed contribution to the debate on achieving environmentally sustainable development, as it offers practical prescriptions for negotiation and decision making that have demonstrably worked. " — Lynton K. Caldwell

"The subject matter is of the utmost urgency. No other work provides the insights and methodological solutions this provides. It will be of interest to practitioners involved in contemporary development as well as academics in fields such as international relations, political science, public administration, rural sociology, and environmental studies. " — Janet M. Chernela