Environmental Planning

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Environmental Planning

• Some reflections from Sweden
• Sylvia Dovlén Royal Institute of Technolgy

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The content

• My own experience
• Sustainable Development
• Planning approaches
• Swedish environmental quality objectives
• Some examples from my research field

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Natural scientist in practice Sylvia Dovlén
Social scientist in theory

• Post-doc 2007 SLU/Bari
• Biodiversity in planning processes
• PhD Regional Planning 2005
• KTH
• Communicating Professional Perspectives Local
  Government and Spatial Planning for
  Sustainabiltiy
• TERRA municipalities (290)
• RUSK - regions (21)
• Planning (communicative/collaborative
• conflicts/consensus, power, discourse,
  metaphors)
• Organisations
• Professions
• Policy implementation
• Ecological modernisation
• Social constructionism
• Transformative learning

• Agenda 21
• Comprehensive planning
• Environmetal Impact Assesments
• Monitoring forest damage
• Monitoring biodiversity, nature conservation
  policy
• Environmental and health protection 90
• Biogeovetare 79

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Sustainable Development

• Is a development that meets the needs of the
  present without compromising the ability of
  future generations to meet their own needs
• WCED, 1987, p 43

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Sustainable Development

• Link between environment and development.
• Practical interpretation of the rather
  theoretical concept of SD, seeking to balance the
  modalities of environmental protection with
  social and economical concerns
• UNCED 1992

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The Johannesburg Conference 2002The World
Summit on Sustainable Development WSSD

• Most indicators confirm that both environmental
  quality and sustainability have further
  deteriorated since the Rio Summit of 1992" ..WSSD
  was primarily concerned with why so little
  progress had been made towards achieving the Rio
  goals of Sustainable Development (SD)".
• (Hens Nath, 2003).

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Planning approaches

• Rational Planning
• Top down
• Goal-means
• Best solution
• Truth knowledge

• Communicative P
• Deliberative P
• Bottum up
• Relational
• Local solutions
• Constructed knowledge

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Policy implementation macro/micro

• Global (UN)
• International (EU)
• National (Sweden)
• Regional
• Local

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Swedish Environmental quality objectives
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Swedish Environmental quality objectives

• 1) Reduced climate impact,
• 2) Clean air,
• 3) Natural acidification only,
• 4) A non-toxic environment,
• 5) A protective ozone layer,
• 6) A safe radiation environment

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Swedish Environmental quality objectives

• 7) Zero eutrophication,
• 8) Flourishing lakes and streams,
• 9 Good-quality groundwater,
• 10) A balanced marine environment, flourishing
  coastal areas and archipelagos,
• 11) Thriving Wetlands,

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Swedish Environmental quality objectives

• 12) Sustainable forest,
• 13) A varied agricultural landscape,
• 14) A magnificent mountain
• landscape,
• 15) A good built environment
• 16) A rich diversity of plant and
• animal life
• Swedish EPA 2006

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Some examples of SD implementation

• Terra Professional Perspectives in Planning for
  Sustainability
• Rusk Conceptual Frameworks as Tools to Catch
  Discourses in Organisations
• Implementation of the Convention of Biodiversity,
  CBD

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The problem in focus

• Implementation of sustianable development is an
  overall societal goal.
• Integration of economic, ecological and social
  perspectives in policy, planning and
  decision-making.
• In Sweden, considerable focus on spatial planning
  processes in local governments.
• Insufficient connection between the goals
  formulated on national level and day-to-day
  practice in regional and local governments.
• The local integration processes is slow.

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Terra - The Municipality and the Territory

• Swedish research program from 1996 to 2004.
• Focus on planning as a communicative process
  between actors with different perspectives and
  intrests.
• Various professional perspectives are carriers of
  cultures and discourses.
• Perspectives and discourses structure and guide
  the planning process and show power relations

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Discourse

• A set of meanings, metaphors, representations,
  images, stories, statements and so on that in
  some way produce a particular version of events.
  It refers to a particular picture that is painted
  of an event (or a person or class of persons), a
  particular way of representing it of them in a
  certain light.
• Burr 1995, p 48

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Discourse

• We are able to think only within the constrains
  of discourse. Discourse is defined here as a
  system of statements that constructs an object,
  supports institutions, reproduces power relations
  and has ideological effects.
•   Foucault 1972, Parker 1990

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Research questions

• Why is the integration of environmental and
  sustainable issues in local land-use or spatial
  planning a slow process?
• From what complementary perspective can this
  intertia be understood?

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Professional actors

• Focus group discussion and semi-structured in
  deep interviews
• Environmental professionals
• Professionals in economic development
• Planners

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Professional perspectives and positions
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Some conclusions

• The professional perspectives studied are
  constructed differently.
• Some perspectives have more status and discursive
  power than others.
• The conflicts between perspectives need to be
  higlighted.

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Rusk- Regional Development from a socio-cultural
perspective

• What kind of perspectives do interviewed
  professional construct in relation to the
  national task of integrating SD goals in
  municipal and regional planning and programming
  work?
• How do these perspective guide the handling of SD
  issues?

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All goals are equal balancing interests
All goals are equal
econ
envir
soc
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Economic goals are superior other sociatal goals

• Economic goals are supperior other societal goals
  searching for win-win situations

econ
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Environmental and social goals are superior
economic goals
envir
soc
econ
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Perspectives towards the national task on SD

• An intellectual challange
• The goals are accepted
• A negative stance towards the national task
• The national taks in uniterested or impossible

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Some conclusions

• In our studies we have found following conditions
  that prevent relational processes open for
  multiplicity, reflection and re-thinking
• Ways of labelling issues and perspectives, giving
  them power or powerlessness.
• Competition between perspectives avoiding
  cross-approaches.
• Dividing issues and perspectives into sectors
  with strict dividing lines.
• Time and organizational routines preventing
  inquiring reflections and discussions.
• The national directives being abstract and sector
  divided.

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Implementation of the Convention of Biodiversity

• It is reckless if not downright dangerous to keep
  chipping away at our life support system. It is
  unethical to drive other forms of life to
  extinction, and thereby deprive present and
  future generations of options for their survivals
  and development
• Secretariat of the CBD, 2000 p 6

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• One of the greatest challenges in the
  implementation of a national biodiversity
  strategy is that of appealing to all sectors
  involve so at to induce as many partners as
  possible both from public and private sectors, to
  participate in the attainment of the stated
  objectives
• Prescott et al 2000, p 10

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Obstacles in Implementation of CBD

• Conflicts in the task
• Institutional tensions
• Fragmentation of efforts
• Gap between policy formulation and local
  implementation practice

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Research questions

• How is CBD implementation interpreted and
  communicated by international and national
  (Swedish) government ?
• And what comprehensive story-lines are used in
  the CBD implementation process at those levels

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Language in use story lines

• Conservation and sustainable use two sides of
  the same coin?
• The ecosystem approach
• The landscape perspective

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The Ecosystem Approach EA

• Management of living components is considered
  alongside economic and social consideration at
  the ecosystem level of organisation not simply a
  focus on managing species and habitats
• If management of land, water, and living
  resources in equitable ways is to be sustainable,
  it must be integrated and work within the natural
  boundaries and utilize the natural functioning of
  ecosystems
• Ecosystem management is a social process. Many
  interested communities must be involved through
  the development of efficient and effective
  structures and processes for decision-making and
  management.
• The ecosystem approach and application of its 12
  principles as central for SD was also stressed in
  UN Conference in Johannesburg 2001.

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Planning relevant story-lines used for
implementation

• UN EU Sweden (national level)
• Conservation and
• Sustainable use of BD x x x
• Natura 2000 x x
• 16th environmental x
• quality goal
• The EA x x x
• The LP x x
• European Landscape x x
• Convention (ECL)
• Regional landscape x
• strategies (RLS)

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Some conclusions

• Sustainable use integrated management
  /cross-sectorial approach/management
  /intersectorial collaboration processes.
• EA the key tool for implementation of CBD.
• In EU and Sweden is the policy image the EA and
  the LC/RLS tools to fulfil the 2010 target to
  halt the loss of BD.

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