Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

Environmental Goals and Science Policy: A Review of Selected Countries
Pages 191-242

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 191...
... 216 Canada, 217 Environmental Policy, 217 The Research Community, 218 Science Policy, 218 Environmental Considerations, 219 191
From page 192...
... 192 LINKING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS France, 220 Environmental Policy, 220 The Research Community, 220 Science Policy, 221 Environmental Considerations, 221 Germany, 222 Environmental Policy, 222 The Research Community, 223 Science Policy, 223 Environmental Considerations, 224 United Kingdom, 225 Environmental Policy, 225 The Research Community, 226 Science Policy, 226 Environmental Considerations, 227 European Community, 228 Environmental Policy, 228 The Research Community, 230 Science Policy, 230 Environmental Considerations, 231 Japan, 233 Environmental Policy, 233 The Research Community, 234 Science Policy, 234 Environmental Considerations, 235 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................. 235 Interdisciplinarity, 236 Network Formation, 236 Government Laboratories, 237 Policy Support or Technology Development, 237 Industrial Research and Development, 237 SOME PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS ..........................................................
From page 193...
... Many environmental threats would be unknown without scientific research, or known too late to permit appropriate policy action. In other words, environmental policy rests on a foundation of scientific research without which it would not even exist.
From page 194...
... Public pressure increased to limit the risks associated with the practice of using the ambient environment for waste disposal. The responses were also everywhere quite similar: the adoption of laws regulating emissions to air and water, the establishment of procedures for environmental management, and legislation concerning the control of hazardous wastes and toxic substances.
From page 195...
... COMMISSIONED PAPER BY KONRAD VON MOLTKE 195 TABLE 1 Major National Environmental Laws in Some OECD Countries Type of Law Impact General Water Wastes Air Statement Other Canada 1970 1973 1975a United States 1970 1972 1965 1963 1969 1976b 1977 1970 1970 1976 1977 1984 Japan 1967 1958 1970 1962 1973c 1970 1970 1968 1973c Australia 1974 1974 New Zealand 1967 1972 1972 1974 1977 Austria 1959 1973 Belgium 1971 1974 1964 Denmark 1973 1978 1978 1978d 1980 1979b 1982 Finland 1961 1978 1982 1923d 1979 1965e France 1976 1964 1975 1974 1976 1977b Germany 1957 1972 1974 1975 1976d 1976 Greece 1976 1977 1983 1977l 1980 1978 1985g Iceland Ireland 1976 1977 1977 1976 Italy 1976 1966 Luxembourg 1982 1961 1980 1976 1976j Netherlands 1952 1969 1976 1970 1963h 1979 1975 1977 1979 1983i Norway 1981 1977b Portugal 1976 1977 1980 1976d 1983b 1983 1983k Spain 1975 1972 Sweden 1969 1969 1975 1969 1969l 1964d 1981 1981 1981 1981 1973b 1983 Switzerland 1983 1971 1966d 1969b 1979k Turkey 1983 1960 1983d 1971 United Kingdom 1974 1961 1974 1956 1974j 1974 1968 1975c 1974 1981d continued
From page 196...
... lEssentially a specific administrative procedure. Given the similarity of the problems and the symmetry of responses, it might be expected that environmental management is essentially the same in industrialized countries.
From page 197...
... In this respect, the United States of 1965 resembled the countries of the developing world more than those of Western Europe or Japan. Political and Administrative Culture The policy areas that were ultimately to form a core of environmental management -- water supply, neighborhood protection, worker safety, and public health, as well as land use planning -- developed independently of each other.
From page 198...
... In most countries, environmental agencies were formed in several stages, and certain aspects of environmental policy are frequently still managed outside the environmental agency. In the United States, for example, marine pollution is in the Commerce Department, nature protection in the Department of the Interior, and there are no land use planning functions at the federal and few at state level; in Germany, marine pollution is in the Ministry of Transport and new chemicals must be notified to a unit attached to the Ministry of Labor, while land use planning is the responsibility of a third ministry; in the Netherlands, water quality is handled by the environmental authorities but all other aspects of water management by the Ministry of Transport.
From page 199...
... Modest levels of water treatment can achieve dramatic improvements in water quality, as demonstrated by the Thames. In continental Europe, even vigorous water treatment can still result in limited water quality, as demonstrated by the Rhine.6 Even though the lack of water treatment in the United Kingdom is essentially transferring pollution to the oceans, it has taken twenty years to demonstrate the impact of such policies and to induce a shift in priorities to more closely resemble those of the countries most affected by deterioration of the North Sea.
From page 200...
... Some observers view environmental quality as a luxury good for which demand rises as disposable income rises.7 Many of these observations are based on empirical data derived from the past twenty years of environmental policy showing that levels of sulfur dioxide emissions started to fall as GDP grew beyond a "threshold" of approximately
From page 201...
... Consequently their interpretation is liable to be misleading since they reflect a period during which significant environmental costs continued to be deferred. Moreover, they reflect a period when environmental management and economic policies were inadequately integrated, thus increasing the cost of environmental measures.
From page 202...
... Criteria for Comparing Environmental Management Until recently, environmental management represented a marginal activity of public policy. In many countries, environmental agencies did not have the status of a ministry or remained subunits of some ministry which handled matters that were considered more important -- typically health or housing.
From page 203...
... • As environmental management becomes more complex, more comprehensive and more effective, significant differences in levels of environmental control or degrees of internalization of environmental costs can cause noticeable economic distortions that impact the relative competitive position of the countries concerned both positively and negatively. The literature comparing environmental management is sparse and largely limited to Western Europe and North America.
From page 204...
... Comparing "Standards" In the search for more readily comparable aspects of environmental management, attention has turned to "standards." Generally expressed in technical terms, standards appear to offer a comparable basis for evaluating environmental policies in different countries. However, two difficulties exist in comparing standards: variations in the definition of standards and in their application in practice.
From page 205...
... SOURCE: Nigel Haigh, Manual of Environmental Policy: The EC and Britain. London: Longman (looseleaf)
From page 206...
... The United States has also long promoted US environmental standards for adoption by other countries, with the purpose of improving environmental management and the incidental outcome of creating a market for US monitoring technologies. In practice, environmental standards can have a significant impact on the direction of scientific research and technological innovation, as public authorities first fund research to support the regulatory process and those affected by regulation subsequently move to implement requirements and to limit their economic impact through the introduction of new technologies.
From page 207...
... Participation is not possible without an adequate information base that is publicly available. This informs the structure of many environmental assessment requirements and explains the central importance of freedom of information regulations to environmental management.
From page 208...
... Terms: AMV: annual mean value; DMV: daily mean value; 8 HM: 8-hour mean; 3 HM: 3-hour mean; HV: hourly values; 30 MM: 30-minute mean. Definitions used in each country: Japan: the Environmental Quality Standards (EQS)
From page 209...
... Subsequent implementation of environmental regulations frequently involves broad participation as well, either because people find themselves affected by some practice with environmental impacts and make their concern known, or because potentially affected persons undertake informal monitoring activities that can help to set priorities for more formal enforcement efforts. Indeed, no country has implemented effective rules for environmental management without the direct participation of its citizens.
From page 210...
... For example, the Canadian authorities moved in the mid eighties to significantly reduce acidifying emissions. This included major emission reductions at a nickel smelter in Sudbury, Ontario, the largest single source of sulfur dioxide emissions on the North American continent.
From page 211...
... COMMISSIONED PAPER BY KONRAD VON MOLTKE 211 TABLE 4 European Community Directives with General Procedural Requirements Directive Title Procedure 75/440/EEC Drinking water Plan of action 76/464/EEC Dangerous substances in water Authorization procedure 78/176/EEC Titanium dioxide Authorization procedure 78/659/EEC Water for freshwater fish Pollution reduction programmes 79/923/EEC Shellfish waters Pollution reduction programmes 91/676/EEC Nitrates from agricultural sources Action programme for vulnerable zones 77/795/EEC Exchange of information -- water Monitoring; information exchange 75/442/EEC Waste Waste management plans; permits; record-keeping 78/319/EEC Hazardous wastes Permits; inspections and records; plans 84/631/EEC Transfrontier shipment of toxic waste Notification; record-keeping 76/403/EEC Disposal of PCBs Authorization 75/439/EEC Waste oils Permits; information campaigns; situation reports 85/339/EEC Containers for liquids Reduction programmes 86/278/EEC Sewage sludge Bans, authorizations 85/203/EEC Air quality standards for NO2 Consultation in border regions 84/360/EEC Emissions from industrial plants Authorization 88/609/EEC Large combustion plants Licensing; national programmes 594/91 Substances that deplete the ozone layer Reports 82/459/EEC Exchange of information -- air Monitoring; exchange of information 92/72/EEC Air pollution by ozone Monitoring 79/831/EEC Sixth amendment Testing; notification; inventory 82/501/EEC Major accident hazards Safety report; on-site emergency plan; off-site emergency plan; public information 2455/92 Export of chemicals Notification (prior informed consent) 90/219/EEC Genetically modified micro-organisms Risk assessment 90/220/EEC Genetically modified organisms -- release Notification 91/414/EEC Authorization and marketing pesticides Authorization 79/409/EEC Birds and their habitats Control of hunting; restriction on sale 3626/82 Trade in endangered species Permitting; certification 3245/91 Fur from leghold traps Certification 92/43/EEC Habitats and species conservation Establishment of a coherent European ecological network 85/337/EEC Environmental impact assessment Environmental assessment; public information 85/338/EEC Information on the state of environment Work programme; information gathering 90/313/EEC Freedom of information Access to information
From page 212...
... While there is no reason to assume that they are incorrect from each country's point of view, they will tend to reflect the variables outlined above, as well as significant differences in practices relating to the identification and recording of relevant data. Countries with more widely dispersed responsibility for environmental management and without a central statistical office that assesses these data independently of the self-reporting are liable to produce lower figures than countries with more concentrated authority and a continuing statistical exercise.
From page 213...
... In effect this approach compares ambient quality standards or other measures of environmental quality. It must face the fact that countries with lower standards, lesser procedures, and smaller costs may achieve better environmental quality than countries with high standards, rigorous procedures, and high costs.
From page 214...
... It is not unreasonable to expect those who benefit from such locational advantages to accept higher burdens for environmental protection so as to maintain basic levels of environmental quality. Some states in North America show similar characteristics, providing one explanation why states considered to have high levels of environmental control have continued to attract significant investment.
From page 215...
... The assessment of environmental quality requires a long-term effort to establish appropriate monitoring facilities and to study and evaluate the results. This creates an important field of scientific research and technological development as the "interface" between society and the environment becomes better defined.
From page 216...
... Lack of independent domestic research on stratospheric ozone depletion was one of the reasons why European countries were particularly slow in responding to the emerging threats and resisting the self-serving information being circulated by affected industrial interests.
From page 217...
... This paper will outline some of the processes and some of the implications of these interlocking issues for Canada, selected European countries, the European Community, and Japan. Canada Environmental Policy Canadian environmental policy is characterized by the complex division of labor between federal government and provinces.
From page 218...
... Science Policy Canada has recently created a new Department of Industry, which encompasses several previously dispersed science and technology functions, in particular of the precursor Department of Industry, Science and Technology. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Medical Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council support university research and training.
From page 219...
... These subsidies frequently support specific research and development efforts designed to permit the more rapid or more efficient adjustment of policies or enterprises to the demands of federal government environmental priorities. An example of this process was the promise of subsidies to a major mining and smelting operation in Sudbury, Ontario to facilitate reductions in what was at the time the largest single source of sulfur dioxide emissions in North America.
From page 220...
... The counterpoint to this forward looking action is the almost total inaction when confronted with issues the administration is not convinced are of major importance. For example, France was one of the last countries with significant levels of production of ozone depleting substances to remove representatives of the affected industry from its delegations and to act decisively to control the production of the most important ozone depleters.
From page 221...
... Environmental Considerations The French structure of policy-making and research is not particularly well suited to topics that are interdisciplinary and require the cooperation of large numbers of research institutions. In many instances, French researchers have used opportunities for international cooperation as a structure to complement the fairly distinctive French structure.
From page 222...
... Water management was strictly oriented to state of technology considerations, and technology forcing policies were considered undesirable. With a powerful chemical industry, German authorities were unable to legislate domestic toxic substances control legislation without a strong mandate from the European Community, which largely overrode resistance from domestic interests.
From page 223...
... There exists no federal environmental agency with implementing authority. Under these circumstances, federal legislation and regulation are typically highly detailed and the federal government must take recourse to indirect means of achieving its policy objectives, not least of which are research funding and the extensive use of subsidies to promote environmental management.
From page 224...
... . Environmental Considerations The federal Ministry of the Environment is responsible for a Federal Environment Agency, which undertakes information and research management tasks for environmental policy development.
From page 225...
... Relatively modest efforts brought dramatic improvements in environmental quality, and for several decades, Britain was a staunch defender of environmental quality standards as the measure of success in environmental management. It was not until the eighties that Britain came to accept its contribution to long-range pollution, including acidification in Scandinavia and pollution of the North Sea from land-based sources.
From page 226...
... Increasingly British environmental researchers are part of international cooperative research efforts, frequently funded by the European Community and involving partners from other European countries. These cooperative research programs tend to focus on large, complex interdisciplinary research tasks, typically like those required for environmental management.25 The Research Community The number of scientists and engineers engaged in research and development in the United Kingdom is 4.5 per 1,000 of the labor force, high in comparison with most European countries.26 A major portion of the research community is affiliated with higher education, which expanded substantially in the sixties and seventies.
From page 227...
... This was widely viewed as enhancing the role of science and improving the prospects for funding. In the most recent change within government, the OST was removed from the cabinet office and transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry, a large and powerful ministry with interests of its own in relation to science policy.27 Environmental Considerations One of the six British research councils is devoted to Environmental Science.
From page 228...
... Through the Stockholm Conference, the United Nations system concluded that the environment was marginal to its major priorities and could be entrusted to a newly created United Nations Environment Programme, which was given vast responsibility, few resources, and no authority.28 UNEP was not integrated into the UN development system, which was emerging simultaneously, centered on the United Nations Development Programme.29 The GATT established a Working Group on the environment, which was not convened for the following twenty years. The European Community launched its environmental activities with a political mandate from the newly constituted meeting of heads of state and government (which was later formalized as the European Council)
From page 229...
... Originally driven by sometimes hesitant recognition that the process of economic integration could not proceed without an accompanying programme of environmental management, EC environmental policy has developed a dynamic of its own -- abetted by the existence of unambiguous authority in the EC Treaties following the changes introduced in 1986 by the Single European Act, including a new Title on the environment (Art.
From page 230...
... Thus it has been more than the simple logic of linking economic integration and the environment, or the expressed desire of governments, but the internal dynamic of environmental management itself that has impelled the EC to develop strong and frequently effective environmental policies. The provisions of the Single European Act concerning the environment were effective because they simply legitimized what was occurring anyhow.
From page 231...
... In a recent communication, the Commission proposes to "achieve better coordination by intensifying cooperation at the various stages of drafting and implementing RTD policy."39 The European Community's resources represent approximately 4 percent of the research and technological development resources available in its member states. Consequently it can have an impact on science policy only if it focuses attention on priority issues.
From page 232...
... 232 LINKING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS TABLE 6 Scientific Content and Means of Implementation, EC Environment and Climate Workprogramme, 1994–1998 Theme 1 Research into the Natural Environment, Environmental Quality, and Global Change Area 1.1 Climate change and impact on natural resources 1.1.1 Basic processes in the climate system 1.1.2 The climate system in the past 1.1.3 Climate variability, simulations of climate, and predictions of climate change 1.1.4 Impact of climate changes and other environmental factors on natural resources 1.1.4.1 European water resources 1.1.4.2 Agriculture, forestry, and the natural environment 1.1.4.3 Land resources and the threat of desertification and soil erosion in Europe Area 1.2 Atmospheric physics and chemistry, interactions with the biosphere, and mechanisms of environmental change impacts 1.2.1 Atmospheric physics and chemistry 1.2.1.1 Stratospheric chemistry and depletion of the ozone layer 1.2.1.2 Tropospheric physics and chemistry 1.2.2 Biospheric processes 1.2.2.1 The functioning of ecosystems 1.2.2.2 Alterations of processes as a result of UV-B radiation 1.2.2.3 Biodiversity and environmental change Theme 2 Environmental Technologies Area 2.1 Instruments, techniques, and methods for monitoring the environment Area 2.2 Technologies for assessing risks to, and protecting and rehabilitating, the environment 2.2.1 Methods of estimating and managing risks to the environment and to humans 2.2.1.1 Risks to human health 2.2.1.2 Risks to the environment 2.2.1.3 Industrial safety 2.2.2 Analysis of the life cycle of industrial and synthetic products 2.2.3 Technologies to protect and rehabilitate the environment 2.2.4 Technologies to protect and rehabilitate European cultural heritage Area 2.3 Technologies to forecast, prevent, and reduce natural risks 2.3.1 Hydrological and hydrogeological risks 2.3.2 Seismic risk 2.3.3 Volcanic risk 2.3.4 Forest fires Theme 3 Space Techniques Applied to Environmental Monitoring and Research Area 3.1 Methodological research and pilot projects 3.1.1 Methodological research 3.1.2 Pilot projects Area 3.2 Research and development work for potential future operational activities Area 3.3 Centre for Earth Observation Theme 4 Human Dimensions of Environmental Change Area 4.1 Socio-economic causes and effects of environmental change Area 4.2 Economic and social responses to environmental problems -- towards Sustainable Development Area 4.3 Integration of scientific knowledge and of economic and societal considerations into the formulation of environmental policies Area 4.4 Sustainable development and technological change
From page 233...
... The European Parliament has a mainly advisory role, which can involve co-decision under certain complex circumstances.42 These general observations also extend to the determination of environmental policy priorities and their linkage to science and technology policy. Japan Environmental Policy Environmental policy in Japan reflects a characteristic interaction between private interests and public authorities at various levels.
From page 234...
... and a comparative disregard for environmental management issues associated with commodity production, the extraction cycle in which natural resources are turned into economic goods. The Research Community In comparison with other countries, research in higher education in Japan is weak, while research in government and industry scientific institutions is strong.
From page 235...
... The increased emphasis on environmental science and technology in all Japanese government programs reflects an assessment by these groups, in particular by industry, that taking account of environmental considerations will be a major factor of future production technologies and even constitutes an area of important competitive advantage.49 A recent review of Japanese environmental policy did not discuss science and technology policy issues.50 This suggests that the Environment Agency plays a relatively marginal role in the determination of science and technology priorities, even when these are directly relevant to environmental policy. This task is largely undertaken by groups with close links to industry.
From page 236...
... No research institution, no matter how large and accomplished, is capable of covering all aspects of environmental research. Indeed no single research institution will have the capability to undertake high quality research on all aspects of a single environmental issue.
From page 237...
... This reflects an assessment that the needs for policy oriented research remain pressing while the use of scarce public resources for technology development is less efficient than the use of private resources. Industrial Research and Development For many years, public authorities have felt a need to promote the development of environmental technologies.
From page 238...
... While conclusive proof of climate change remains elusive, it is hard to avoid the overwhelming impression that climate change is under way and we know little about the likely effects of the experiment we are undertaking with the climate system. The success stories in the short history of environmental management -- the control of organic emissions to water, reduction in emissions of acidifying compounds to the atmosphere, protection of the stratospheric ozone layer -- all are based on a mixture of systematic research and happenstance.
From page 239...
... Konrad von Moltke, Handbuch für den grenzüberschreitenden Umweltschutz in der Euregio MaasRhein (Schriftenreihe Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen -- Landesentwicklung Band 1.045)
From page 240...
... 29. Konrad von Moltke and Ginny Eckert, "The United Nations Development System and Environmental Management," World Development Vol.
From page 241...
... 42. See Konrad von Moltke, The Maastricht Treaty and the Winnipeg Principles on Trade and Sustainable Development.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.