In 1980, the World Conservation Strategy (WCS) (IUCN/UNEP/WWF 1980) recommended that countries undertake national and subnational conservation strategies. Since then, hundreds of countries and communities have developed and implemented strategies. Some have been inspired by the WCS, others by Our Common Future (WCED 1987), still others by Caring for the Earth (IUCN/UNEP/WWF 1991) and Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992). Some have been motivated or assisted by international organizations, such as the World Bank, UNSO, UNDP, IIED, WRI and IUCN. Others have acted on their own initiative or relied entirely on their own resources.

Reflecting their different histories, the strategies go by various names: conservation strategy, environmental action plan, environmental management plan, environmental policy plan, sustainable development strategy, national Agenda 21, and so on. They are referred to here by the umbrella term of ‘strategies for sustainability’. Diverse though they are, the more successful strategies have common features, and lessons can be learned from them all. Here, ten lessons from fourteen years of experience with strategies for sustainability are summarized. We return to them regularly throughout the handbook. 

Strategies seek to improve and maintain the well-being of people and ecosystems

The overall goal of strategies is sustainable development

Most strategies for sustainability have focused on environmental objectives. A few, such as Bhutan’s Seventh Five-Year Plan, have mainly development objectives. But in all cases the ultimate goal is to improve the condition of both people and the ecosystems of which they are a part. This goal is variously described as sustainable development, sustainable living or sustainable well-being. It means that strategies have an important role as integrators of socio-economic and ecological perspectives and of the policies, plans and programmes of interacting sectors and interest groups.

The choice of strategy objectives should be tactical

With a broad goal such as sustainable development, it is tempting to try to do everything. But strategies with too many objectives can get bogged down, break up into a mess of projects, or reduce the objectives to those that are top priority.

Strategies need objectives that are:

• few enough to be achievable;
• encompassing enough to ensure the support of participants and prevent the strategy being fragmented and losing coherence; and
• clearly defined and measurable enough to assess progress.

The strategy process is adaptive and cyclical

A strategy is a process, not an isolated event. The process is adaptive; it develops as it goes along and responds to change. It is cyclical; over a period of several years, the main components are repeated. This means that a strategy need not and should not try to do everything at once. It can grow in scope, ambition and degree of participation as capacities to undertake the strategy are built. Pakistan, for example, started with a national conservation strategy and went on to develop provincial conservation strategies; Malaysia developed state strategies first and then a national strategy. Neither tried to develop national and subnational strategies at the same time.

The strategy should be as participatory as possible

Participation means sharing responsibility for the strategy and jointly undertaking it. The participants in a strategy should be those whose values, knowledge, technology or insti-tutions need to change or be strengthened to achieve the objectives. The objectives determine the participants and the participants decide the objectives. Participants bring information to the strategy, ensuring that it is based on a common understanding of purpose, problems and solutions. Participation is the most effective way of communicating the information on which the strategy is based, its objectives, and the actions to be taken. People who participate in designing and deciding actions are more likely to understand their purpose and to implement them in full.

Participation should be expanded as the strategy develops. Usually, the nature and extent of participation will vary with the type of strategy and how far it has evolved. In many national strategies, for example, local involvement is at first selective and focused on representative communities.

Communication is the lifeblood of a strategy

Communication is the means by which:

• participants exchange information with each other about values, perceptions, interests, ecosystems, resources, the economy and society;
• participants reach agreement with each other on actions;
• values are changed or strengthened and knowledge is imparted; and
• participants inform others about the strategy.

Therefore, communication needs to be planned carefully as an integral part of the strategy.

Strategies are processes of  planning and action

Planning is an important part of a strategy, but a strategy is much more than a plan. It is a process of developing a long-term vision or sense of direction; targeting the key things that can be done to move in that direction (priority issues, key influences on those issues, and the most effective ways of dealing with them); and engaging everyone concerned – businesses, citizens’ groups, communities, as well as governments – to carry them out.

The main components of a strategy are:

• assessment, including diagnosis (survey, issue, identification and analysis at the start of a strategy) and monitoring and evaluation (during a strategy);
• designing the actions (planning); and
• taking the actions (implementation).

These components must continue together and reinforce one another. Most strategies have begun by working in sequence: diagnosis first; then planning; then implementation. But this need not be the case. It is better that implementation, for example, starts early; it does not have to wait for all planning to be completed. Once the strategy is underway, implementation and monitoring should be continuous. Evaluation and the planning of new actions should be repeated at intervals; for example, every three to five years.

Monitoring and evaluation are vital for success; keeping the strategy on course and enabling it to adapt to changing conditions and results. Evaluation needs to focus on how the strategy is carried out as well as on the results.

Although many strategies are called ‘plans’ rather than ‘strategies’ – and many strategies started out as plans – all effective strategies are action-oriented and have gone well beyond planning. For example, the Dutch National Environmental Policy Plan has become an instrument for structural change in production and consumption, with interest groups, sectors and corporations committing themselves to change their behaviour to meet agreed targets. The Seychelles used its National Environment Management Plan to establish the institutional framework for sustainable development, including a Ministry of Environment, Economic Planning and External Relations.

Therefore, it is best to think of a strategy not as a plan but as a means of planning and taking actions to change or strengthen values, knowledge, technologies and institutions. By the same token, a strategy document is an essential tool to make the strategy explicit and record the policies and actions agreed by the participants. But it is only a tool; it is not the strategy. Too great an emphasis on preparing a document can divert energy from the actions the document is meant to promote.

Integrate the strategy into the decision-making systems of society

Strategies should be integrated with conventional development cycles; they are not just something to be added on. In Ethiopia and Pakistan, for example, the national conservation strategies are expected by government and donors to act as the strategic framework for all development investment and actions.

The strategy should build on priority areas where government and people are already committed. Politicians and communities need to see its benefits and relevance. It should draw on local knowledge, values, skills and intuitions.

The strategy should also build on past or current plans rather than ignore or replace them. It should recognize and capture the best of what is available and has already been done.

Build the capacity to undertake a strategy at the earliest stage

At a national level, this means building the capacity for cross-sectoral action, finding ways of integrating environmental concerns with development, and developing processes to alert government agencies and the private sector about their environmental responsibilities.

In the Nepal NCS, this has been done by training key technical staff from various ministries in environmental impact assessment, an activity that led to environmental units being set up in key ministries and an Environmental Protection Council.

External agencies should be ‘on tap’, not on top

External financial and technical assistance should help the society concerned increase its capacity to undertake strategies for sustainability. Recipient governments must be able to take the lead in coordinating assistance. Locally-designed and locally-driven approaches to strategies should be given precedence over conditions on aid or notions of ‘model’ strategies. Low-level continuous support over a long period is almost always better than high-level support for a limited period. Donors should support the capacity-building process and not just the products of the strategy. Their support for implementation should include refocusing existing investments as well as new investment.