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Associated with useful entry points from national to local and sectoral levels (section 2.1) are particular catalysts that can make best use of these entry points. These ‘catalysts for environmental mainstreaming’ may be advocates, laws, funding sources, projects or specially-constituted mainstreaming initiatives. They may be formal or informal. They may be enduring or rather ephemeral, depending upon changing issues and timing. We base this section on what our country surveys found to be the relative significance of many such drivers in recent years (Table 5.1).
Whilst there is a general presumption that key laws and ‘safeguard’ processes such as EIA and SEA are the central drivers of mainstreaming (borne out in our country surveys – below) there is a growing awareness that specific new initiatives around environmental potentials can often be more effective. Many of the latter are international initiatives that provide an opportunity to drive environmental mainstreaming if their potential and be harnessed effectively, e.g. climate change adaptation plans, low-carbon investment, and REDD (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation). Several market-based, community-led as well as governmental initiatives have emerged to identify and support environmental values in circumstances where they are threatened or already scarce. Example include projects to factor environment into poverty reduction strategies, strategic environmental assessments of proposed policies, and payment schemes for carbon, water and other environmental services. In addition, consumer-based and ethical programmes are beginning to influence public behaviour. Some of these environmental mainstreaming approaches are promoted by external bodies as ‘silver bullets’. However, none can really mainstream environment effectively on its own. Many are indeed promising, but most have not been adopted system-wide and, consequently, many big decisions go ahead largely uninformed by environmental considerations.
Associated antagonists or constraints are discussed in section 5.1.
Table 5.1: Drivers of environmental mainstreaming
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