Since David asked, I'll break my silence and chime in. People have tried for decades to arrive a simple, quantitative, cross-national measure that would gauge level of effort devoted to environmental protection. Nobody has succeeded. It isn't hard to understand why:
- Circumstances vary (what is hard to achieve in one place is easy in another). - Priorities vary (what is a big problem in one place is not in another). - Mechanisms vary (some places use binding regulations, some use codes of conduct, some use process-oriented approaches; some use outcome-oriented approaches, etc.). - And data availability is very spotty. Many people don't want you to know the answer to this question, and they succeed at obfuscating it. Others wouldn't mind if you know, but they don't have resources to carry out the necessary measures. The EPI and its precursor the Environmental Sustainability Index were efforts to fill some of the information gaps, but they never targeted the question of "stringency" or "severity" of regulation. You'll find some nuggets of useful information but you'll be chewing to the bone without getting the meat you want. As one commenter suggested, an expert survey is one way to overcome all these limitations. Level of effort aimed at protection is complicated, but if you are well informed then you know it when you see it. For one really interesting effort along these lines check out http://www.inece.org/forumsindicators.html. What INECE is doing is very well conceived, but they don't have large-n data sets yet. You can probably hunt down some proxies, but Aseem doesn't say what he wants to do with the data. Cheers, Marc -- Marc A. Levy Deputy Director, CIESIN Adjunct Professor, SIPA PO Box 1000 61 Route 9W Palisades, NY 10964 t +1 845-365-8964 f +1 845-365-8922 m +1 845-270-5762 On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 3:37 PM, Downie, David <[email protected]> wrote: > With respect to Aseem's original question, some global regimes have attempted > to catalogue national policies related to their issue area however they do > not address severity. EPI has strengths and weaknesses. We should ask Marc > Levy what he thinks about using it to answer the comparative severity > question in a rigorous manner. > > Raul's dissertation rubric is a solid approach but I completely agree with > him, and others, that measuring and comparing severity depends on how you > define it and even then it might be the wrong question. Thus, I share the > perspective that, ultimately it is not the severity of the legislation that > matters but the result - the actual state of the environment, the amount of > effluents released, e.g. the amount of resources consumed. One can imagine > that a country that has effectively built sustainability into its economic > and social systems might have few or weak environmental rules but little > pollution. And, as noted and widely acknowledged, effective and uniform > enforcement can be as important as the severity of the law (as you know, on > some issues, many of china's national environmental laws, policies and goals > - the words on the page - are strong but local enforcement of Beijing's > policies can vary). Effective implementation has been as important an issue > for many years as policy creation -- especially for policy makers but also > for academics. For example, creating systems to help ensure that strong > national laws on ozone depleting substances were actually implemented > effectively was a topic of discussion within sub-groups of the ozone regime > since at least 1989 and is of concern to some participating in or observing > the nascent global mercury negotiations, particularly in relation to certain > gold-mining sectors. > > > -------------------------------------------------------- > David Downie > Director, Program on the Environment > Fairfield University > > Fairfield University, Donnarumma 217 > 1073 North Benson Road > Fairfield, CT 06824 > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ; 203-254-4000, ext 3504 > > ________________________________ > > From: [email protected] on behalf of [email protected] > Sent: Thu 8/12/2010 5:27 PM > To: [email protected]; [email protected]; > [email protected] > Subject: RE: [gep-ed] data question > > > > I would add to Angus' observations about enforcement that enforcement takes > place at multiple levels and through various actors. I think that too often > enforcement is defined too narrowly as what government(s) do to regulate > particular activities. These often are limited by the mechanisms through > which agencies work: periodic and oft' times pre-announced site visits and > testing for compliance. I think a better measure is the extent to which > governments support nongovernment organizations and individuals as > quasi-regulatory actors. This includes whether and to what extent employees > are encouraged and/or supported by laws and governments in reporting > violations, because they have intimate knowledge about actual practices > that may otherwise be hidden from regulators. I think the BP fiasco offers > some insight into how important employees can be in acting, or not, to > protect themselves and the environment. > > Darrell Whitman > > > Original Message: > ----------------- > From: Wright, Angus [email protected] > Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:54:18 -0700 > To: [email protected], [email protected] > Subject: RE: [gep-ed] data question > > > > In my experience in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and reading > regarding other countries, the key is more often enforcement effort rather > than the letter of the law. An aggressive government and/or prosecutors can > do a great deal with relatively loose laws, and, on the other hand, can use > very tough looking legislation as nothing more than a smoke screen that > enables poor performance. Of course, it goes without saying that it is best > to have an aggressive government enforcement effort and stringent law, > although some of my friends and ex-students in California state government > complain mightily that sometimes stringent laws, by too great caution and > specificity, can actually stand in the way of effective enforcement, and, > especially, of remediation. > > These observations may be platitudinous to all of you, but such points > often seem to get lost in the legal and political science literature, as > well as in journalistic treatments. > > Angus > > Angus Wright > Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies > California State University, Sacramento > ________________________________________ > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Raul > Pacheco-Vega [[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:06 PM > To: [email protected] >> "[email protected]" > Subject: Re: [gep-ed] data question > > Dear Asseem, Kevin and colleagues, > > I have previously criticized measurements of stringency of environmental > laws, and to this day, I do not think we have one that is rigorous > enough. How would we define stringency of environmental law? Number of > inspections of industrial plants per year? Re-incidence of inspection? > Amount of money paid per infraction (fine)? > > When I wrote my doctoral dissertation I used a combined measure of > number of plant inspections and fines to assess Mexican environmental > regulatory pressure, but I acknowledged it was a very rough measure. I > agree with Kevin that EPI could be used, but I think we still are far > away from a solid measurement of regulatory stringency. > > Yours, > Raul > > Kevin Gallagher wrote: >> A. Prakash >> >> I think the best you can do with that and a grain of salt is Esty's >> "Environmental Performance Index" at Yale: >> >> http://epi.yale.edu/ >> >> Best >> >> Kevin Gallagher >> >> wrote: >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> I am looking for cross-national data on stringency of environmental >>> laws and levels of carbon taxation. Any suggestions where I might >>> find such data? >>> >>> Many thanks, >>> >>> ******************************************** >>> Aseem Prakash >>> Professor >>> Department of Political Science >>> 39 Gowen Hall, Box 353530 >>> University of Washington >>> Seattle, WA 98195-3530 >>> >>> 206-543-2399 >>> 206-685-2146 (fax) >>> [email protected] >>> http://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/ >> >> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > mail2web - Check your email from the web at > http://link.mail2web.com/mail2web > > > > >
