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US-AEP is working
with a range of Asian and U.S. partner organizations to frame a policy
research agenda. This policy research agenda will lay the groundwork
for an international dialogue on policy directions that are crucial to
industrial transformation and sustainable development.
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Framing
a Policy Agenda
Why is a Policy
Agenda needed?
Traditionally, environmental policy efforts to effect the
environmental performance of existing Asian industries have been the
purview of environmental ministries. These policies have been largely
based on command-and-control and market-based incentives. But
considering the enormous industrial investment still in process in
Asia, policies are needed that take into account more fundamental
economic development issues. These factors include global marketplace
forces, economic and development policies, and community pressure and
public opinion. Currently, there is little discussion on how these
factors might be effectively harnessed by Asian governments in
effecting clean investment. A new policy agenda�reflecting a much
broader perspective on economic and social forces at play in Asia�is
needed.
What is US-AEP doing to promote a new Policy Agenda?
In 1997, US-AEP supported a
new partnership between Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts,
and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta,
Indonesia, to develop a series of papers that examine the influences
of government policies, market forces, and public opinion on
industrial environmental performance. The papers, co-authored by
leading policy experts from the United States and Asia, are intended
to frame a policy agenda directed toward industrial transformation.
Five critical areas are being addressed:
Measuring industrial
environmental performance: Reviews of state-of-the-art in
performance metrics and applicability to Asian industries.
Investment and technology
transfer: Develops a conceptual and policy framework for
examining technology transfer and investment.
Public policy to improve
environmental performance: Examines experiences in developed and
developing economies.
Globalization and industrial
environmental performance: Assesses the role of global market
forces in affecting environmental behavior.
Civil society and industrial
environmental performance: Evaluates the effect of the expanding
role of nongovernmental organizations and communities in affecting
industrial environmental behavior.
Initial findings will be
presented at a regional workshop in Indonesia in late 1998. Based on
the workshop�s outcome, the individual papers will be compiled into a
"blueprint" of policy mixes that can transform industrial development
into sustainable development in Asia.
US-AEP expects that this
collaborative process between leading U.S. and Asian policy experts
will be a first step in creating an ongoing policy dialogue within the
international policy community on industrial transformation and
industrial environmental performance. The papers are a means to
attract the attention of key audiences to the necessity and realism of
economic and environmental policies reflecting performance objectives;
create an analytical framework for a much larger two-to-three year
agenda of research and policy analysis; and lay the foundation for an
international policy network and partnership relationships. |
