The Urban Challenge in National Environmental Strategies. 

This paper presents the results of a review of more than 30 national environmental action plans (NEAPs) and discusses the urban environmental issues in NEAPs.

The Effectiveness of Local Environmental Policy Planning

This report is a summary of a Dutch study, on the success and failure of municipal environmental planning in the Netherlands. The focus of the study is a concept from planning literature and policy practice, which states that planning has certain advantages as compared to everyday decision-making.

Green Plans: blueprints or statements of future intent for future decisions

This paper compares the actual environmental behaviour of a number of "environmentally friendly" European Countries, including the Netherlands, with the ideal model as described in their environmental policy. 

Strategies for Sustainability: Asia 

This volume presents experience with strategies for sustainability in six Asian countries: four in South Asia and two in Southeast Asia.

Towards Sustainability

This report summarises the state of the environment in the European Community and growing threats to its future health, and sets out a new strategy designed to break the current trends and to set a new course for sustainable development.

Partnerships in Practice: Partnerships for Change 

This guide was developed after a three day workshop held in the UK. It contains workshop reports on sustainable resource management, environment and health, financial institutions and national strategies.

New Roots: Institutionalizing Environmental Management in Africa

This report is based on case studies in Botswana, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Concept of Sustainability: Origins, Extensions, and Usefulness for Policy

This paper examines the concept of sustainability and its application in a variety of contexts including single biological resources (such as a fishery), multi-resource ecosystems, and in more complex socio-economic-physical settings. 

NCSD Report 1999-2000: National Experiences on Multi-Stakeholder Participatory Processes for Sustainable Development,

Since the Earth Summit, some 70 countries have created NCSDs (National Councils for Sustainable Development). The action programme of the Earth Summit , Agenda 21, recommends the creation of such entities as co-ordinating mechanisms to bring major civil society groups together with governmental and economic actors in implementing the Earth Summit agreements.

The NCSD Report is a progress report, planned for publication every two years. It aims to document successful practices, as well as problem areas, and assess the effectiveness of NCSDs in influencing policy decisions. This edition is a preliminary version, which focuses on the experiences of NCSDs in 21 countries.

Refocusing on the NIS: Environmental Management and Investments in the NIS: Achievements, Priority Needs, Practical Next Steps

This paper proposes steps for strengthening capacity for environmental management and investments in the Newly Independent States (NIS). 

Evaluation of Progress in Developing and Implementing National Environmental Action Programmes (NEAPs) in CEEC/NIS

This report evaluates the development and implementation of National Environmental Action Programmes (NEAPs) in central and eastern European countries (CEECs) and the New Independent States (NIS). The report's main objectives are as follows: to describe the steps taken by CEECs/NIS to develop and implement NEAPs; to highlight examples of activities carried out by countries which could serve as models for others; to identify some of the common obstacles in the development and implementation of NEAPs; and,  to present recommendations on how they could be overcome.

Environmental Financing in CEEC/NIS; Conclusions and Recommendations. 

This paper reviews the debate on environmental financing within the “Environment for Europe” process and identifies the present trends in environmental expenditure.

Policy Statement on Environmental Management in Enterprises in CEEC/NIS

This document contains the Draft Policy Statement on Environmental Management in Enterprises in CEEC/NIS.

The Future of the EAP Task Force

This paper was prepared to support a discussion on the future of the EAP Task Force. 

Progress in Achieving Basic Capacity Level for Cleaner Production in CEEC/NIS

This document summarises the progress of achievement of the basic capacity level for cleaner production (CP) in CEEC/NIS.

Developing Plans and Strategies. Paper II prepared for the Ministry of Housing, Spatial  Planning and Environment in the Netherlands 

The First Five Years: Agenda 21

This brochure describes some of the most important and innovative policies and activities which the European Community has developed during the past five years to implement Agenda 21 and the priorities for the future. 

National Environmental Action Plans in Africa: Early Lessons and Future Directions

This paper aims to draw early lessons from the 7 NEAPs in Africa to better assist new countries that are about to initiate the same process. 

Progress and Next Steps for National Environmental Action Plans in Africa

This paper describes progress in developing the National Environmental Action Plan process in Africa and indicates future directions for improvement both in the process itself and in its implementation.

Crisis and Opportunity: Environment and Development in Africa 

Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD): The Role of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

This document outlines a number of strategies to achieve sustainable rural development. Its main focus is the issues and areas of action connected with sustainable rural development that are highlighted in UNCED’s Agenda 21. 

The Tropical Forestry Action Plan

This document presents the basic elements of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, and shows how it can be made to work to conserve and develop tropical forest resources on a long-term sustainable basis. 

Towards Sustainable Europe: A Summary

This document summarises selected parts of the Study Towards Sustainable Europe, produced by the Wuppertal Institute for Friends of the Earth Europe. The summary presents the most important results of calculations of environmental space in 2010 for the European Union and Europe as a whole (Part I). In Part II some of the implications of these sustainability targets are considered as a basis for discussion and debate. In Part III the methodological basis for the next phase of the campaign is described, and some of the practical measures that seem likely to be needed, are suggested.

National Sustainability Strategies: A Comparative Review of the Status of Five Countries: Canada, France, The Netherlands, Norway and the UK.

This paper assesses how  five countries- Norway, Canada, France, UK and the Netherlands- view their progress towards a national sustainable strategy.

National Sustainability Strategies: A Guide to Drafting and Ensuring Participation

People and the Planet: Strategies for Tomorrow’s World

This edition of People and the Planet focuses on strategies for sustainable development and contains country reports on Nepal, Costa Rica, Canada, and Ethiopia.

National Conservation Strategies: A Framework for Sustainable Development 

This document offers broad guidance in the development of a national conservation strategy (NCS), based on the early experiences of a few countries.

From Strategy to Action: The IUCN Response to the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development

This document provides a perspective on the activities which IUCN- as the World Conservation Union- intended to promote and implement in support of the principles of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and UNEP.

World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development

This document presents the aim of the WCS. It explains the contribution of living resource conservation to human survival and to sustainable development, identifies the priority conservation issues and the main requirements for dealing with them and proposes ways for effectively achieving the Strategy’s aim.

Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living

The aim of this book is to help improve the condition of the world’s people, by defining two requirements. One is to secure a widespread commitment to the ethic for sustainable living and to translate its principles into practice. The other is to integrate conservation and development.

National Environmental Policy Plans and Long-term Sustainable Development Strategies: Learning from International Experience

The first part of the paper focuses on the possible advantages of strategic and integrative planning in environmental policy. The second part looks at the existing national planning approaches in OECD countries, underlining important differences and similarities, and trying a preliminary evaluation of three national environmental policy plans. On this empirical basis the paper represents an attempt to systematise existing approaches and to draft model stages in environmental planning.

Green Plans: Greenprint for Sustainability.

The book provides a detailed examination of the theory, implementation, and performance of green plans as exemplified in nations such as the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand. Plans under consideration in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore and the European Community are also discussed.

Proceedings of the Workshop on Sustainable Development Strategies, Oslo, 7-8 June 1994

This document shares the experience and knowledge gained by IIED and IUCN in their work on sustainable development strategies.

Taking Stock of National Environmental Strategies

A National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) is designed to integrate environmental management into the overall development objectives of a country. It is an in-country, demand driven process that produces a framework for intervention and a timetable of actions.

This report takes stock of the key elements and best practices in National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs). It is based on a review of 33 national environmental strategy documents, including NEAPs, World Bank country environmental strategy papers (CESPs), national conservation strategies and documents prepared for the 1992 Rio Earth Conference on Development and the Environment.

Six key elements are identified in preparing a NEAP: screening problems; setting priorities; identifying underlying causes of problems; ranking environmental actions; choosing instruments and policies to implement programs; and legal and institutional reforms.
 

Managing the Environment Locally in Sub-Saharan Africa (MELISSA)

This paper deals with the problems of urbanisation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fast-growing cities are experiencing a range of environmental problems similar to other area of the world that have experienced rapid urbanisation. 

Strategies for Sustainability: Latin America

This volume contains an analysis of 15 selected strategies for sustainability in Latin America. The countries covered are Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Peru.

The studies provide examples of very different approaches to strategy development and implementation. The case studies are analytical histories of strategies rather than evaluations, providing a summary of basic information, their common themes, and lessons learned by the teams who have developed the various strategies.

Planning for the Planet: Sustainable Development Policies for Local and Strategic Plans. 

This report begins with a discussion of the significant potential for planning to play a major role in achieving sustainable development. This identifies the different instruments available to planners to influence the quantity, nature and location of new development to contribute to high environmental quality, while providing for appropriate economic development. The rest of the document is broken down into chapters, dealing with different environmental resources and environmental issues. 

Where appropriate each chapter begins with a strategic policy. Each policy section explains the importance of the issue and then gives a suggested policy wording. The policy is followed by the supporting material from legislation, policy guidance and environmental information sources necessary to justify it. The background information also deals, as necessary, with challenges that may arise at a public inquiry, such as why the issue is a ‘land-use’ matter. The need for modification or elaboration to meet specific local circumstances is also indicated as appropriate.

Good Practices for Country and Environmental Surveys and Strategies

Country Environmental Surveys and Strategies are important instruments for fostering improved environmental and natural resource planning and management in developing countries. This document identifies approaches that have been successful in producing these essential instruments. The basic rationale and main components are laid out, including: why these instruments are essential; what have been Development Assistance Committee (DAC) experiences with them; and what practices are seen to be most useful.

Planning for Sustainable Development: Country Experiences

The OECD Workshop in Ottawa, Canada ,13-15 October 1993, was held to bring together both Member and non-Member countries to discuss past experiences and future strategies of national governments and international organisation with respect to preparing and implementing National Plans for Sustainable Development. This report contains excerpts from thirty-four papers submitted by Workshop participants detailing their respective experiences with designing and developing approaches to national sustainable development strategies, and synthesises them with the major conclusions of the Workshop itself.

Shaping the 21st Century: The Contribution of Development Co-operation 

This report sets forth the lessons of development co-operation, as viewed by development ministers, heads of aid agencies and other senior officials responsible for development co-operation, meeting as the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It also presents their ideas on new strategies for the challenges ahead.

Papers from the ‘Donor-Developing Country Scoping Workshop on National Strategies for Sustainable Development’, 18-19 November 1998, Sunningdale, UK. 

A collection of papers concerned with national strategies for sustainable development. Countries and their related programmes form the focus of the papers.

Making Leaps: Local Environmental Action Plans in Central and Eastern Europe. Case Studies of Bulgaria 

The development of new legislation, institutions, and instruments for controlling pollution in Central and Eastern Europe was initially driven by strong public demand for rapid improvement and by the association of environmental degradation with autocratic government. Later, when economic difficulties and high unemployment became national concerns, environmental protection moved down on the national agenda. 

This paper argues that environmental problems could be reduced if the national and local environmental planning efforts now underway could establish mechanisms for sustained and effective environmental management. Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs) can contribute by breaking down institutional compartmentalisation and fragmentation, encouraging public involvement, and integrating environmental planning and management into a broad array of economic activities. In the process, they can also strengthen the network of institutions that “host” these planning activities and help empower civil society. Case studies of two cities with mixed agricultural and industrial economies illustrate this evaluation of LEAPs.

Summary of the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe

Report on the Stage of Advancement of the Central and Eastern European Countries in Development and Implementation of the National Environmental Action Programs (NEAPs)

This document aims to assess the progress made in adopting environmental protection strategies which take into account market based economic performance. It consists of a series of country-based reports for Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia.  Each country report follows the same format. There is information on the relationship between original Environmental Action Programmes (EAPs) and other approaches used to develop environmental policies, assessments are made of progress in absorbing EAP principles into the country’s own environmental protection programs, and there are records of problems and obstacles. Each report was prepared by the country’s policy experts, who were recruited mainly from the respective Ministry of the Environment. 

Status of National Environmental Action Programs in Central and Eastern Europe

Proceedings of the Fourth Regional Workshop on National Strategies on Environment and Sustainable Development

This document contains presentations of institution case studies in Madagscar and Ghana of institutions, presentations of case studies in Burkina Faso, Uganda and Guinea Conakry  on coordination between donors, and presentations of case studies in Benin, Botswana and Zambia of legal frameworks. 

Elusive Success: Institutional Priorities and the Role of Coordination: A Case Study of the Madagascar National Environmental Action Plan

This paper focuses primarily on the effectiveness of the National Environment Office (l’Office National de l’Environnement, or ONE), Madagascar’s Environmental Action Plan’s central co-ordinating body.  The problems ONE has encountered and the ways in which it has responded to recurring challenges provide a valuable case study in co-ordinating and carrying out a NEAP ONE’s origins and mandate, the political context of Madagascar’s EAP, and recent operational changes implemented to improve the office’s effectiveness are described. Then, key factors affecting the capacity and function of ONE are identified and analysed.. The paper also draws conclusions about the more generic aspects of the institutional challenges facing NEAPs across Africa and suggests further actions to be taken by the community of people and institutions engaged in NEAPs.

Road from Rio: Industrialized Countries

This paper considers some of the most important types of capacity building for sustainable development carried out by industrialised countries since 1992. It compares the experiences of industrialised with those of developing countries and suggests how industrialised countries can better promote capacity building for sustainable development.

In Defence of the Earth: The Basic Texts on Environment: Founex: Stockholm: Coycoyoc 

This book contains the three basic documents upon which the fundamental principles of environmental management are based: the Founex Report, the Stockholm Plan of Action and the Coycoyoc Declaration.

Strategies for Sustainability: Africa

This volume reviews more than a decade of experience with strategies for sustainability in 12 African countries: Botswana; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Guinea-Conakry; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Nigeria; Serengeti; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.

The countries provide examples of very different approaches to strategy development and implementation. The case studies are analytical histories of strategies rather than evaluations, providing a summary of basic information and lessons learned by the teams who have developed the various strategies.

National Environmental Strategies: Learning from Experience 

Environmental strategies are living documents that need to change as new problems arise, and as our understanding of the economy and natural ecosystems grows. This paper incorporates the observations emerging from a review of over 30 national environmental strategies and action plans by the World Bank and broader country, NGO, Bank and other donor experience in environmental management. The review identifies three elements involved in a successful strategy, and these are discussed in the paper: identifying priority problems; defining priority actions; and ensuring effective implementation. The final part of the paper deals with the future agenda of national environmental strategies and action plans, specifically, improving environmental management at the sub-national level, addressing multinational environmental problems and adding the global dimension.

Country-Level Donor Coordination in Support of Sustainable Development: Preliminary Discussion Paper

This paper examines some of the critical obstacles to donor coordination at the country level. The paper is based on results emerging from a study of donor coordination for sustainable development at the World Resources Institute.

World Directory of Country Environmental Studies: An Annotated Bibliography of Natural Resource Profiles, Plans, and Strategies

The focus of the directory is on multisectoral, national environmental assessments, plans, and strategies and those serving the multilateral organisations’ need for information on climate change, biodiversity, land degradation, and forests. 

Specifically, the directory contains bibliographic citations and abstract information on 414 reports for 181 countries. It can be used to identify, locate and acquire these reports by country or by subject matter. Reports included fulfil certain selection criteria. They are: concerned with environmental and natural resource issues; supported by numerical data and charts, tables, and maps; countrywide or regional in coverage; useful to policy-makers and others concerned with development planning; prepared since 1990; and, publicly available at reasonable cost.