From Public Concern to Policy Effectiveness

An earlier version of this article appeared as a background paper for the World Bank's World Development Report 2003. Additional material draws on case studies produced under the author's direction at the RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, with research assistance from Cristin Tighe and Mary Ann Kutny. The author wishes to thank Russell Dalton for timely access to data from the GEOS survey. Notes An earlier version of this article appeared as a background paper for the World Bank's World Development Report 2003. Additional material draws on case studies produced under the author's direction at the RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, with research assistance from Cristin Tighe and Mary Ann Kutny. The author wishes to thank Russell Dalton for timely access to data from the GEOS survey. 2For the most comprehensive cross-national survey, see R.E. Dunlap, G.H. Gallup & A.M. Gallup, Health of the Planet: Results of a 1992 International Environmental Opinion Survey of Citizens in 24 Nations, (1993). Analyses of these and other public opinion data are provided in R.E. Dunlap & A.G. Mertig, Global Concern for the Environment: Is Affluence a Prerequisite?, 51(4) J. Social Issues 121-137 (1995); S.R. Brechin & W. Kempton, Global Environmentalism: A Challenge to the Postmaterialism Thesis?, 75(2) Social Sci. Q. 245-269 (1994); Q. Kidd & A.-R. Lee Postmaterial Values and the Environment: A Critique and Reappraisal, 78(1) Social Sci. Q. 1-15 (1997). 3A political analysis of the impressive accomplishments of Costa Rica and Bolivia in the realm of biodiversity policy is provided in P.F. Steinberg, Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries: Transnational Relations and Biodiversity Policy in Costa Rica & Bolivia. (2001). 4The poor record of protected areas management in the tropics is reviewed in C. van Schaik, J. Terborgh, and B. Dugelby, The Silent Crisis: The State of Rain Forest Nature Preserves, in Last Stand-Protected Areas and the Defense of Tropical Biodiversity 64-89 (R. Kramer, C. van Schaik, & J. Johnson, eds. 1997). Although some researchers of the political ecology school (see for example S.R. Brechin et al. (eds.), Contested Nature: Promoting International Biodiversity with Social Justice in the Twenty-first Century (2003)) take issue with van Schaik and colleagues about the underlying causes of these problems-placing greater emphasis on social justice rather than improved enforcement-the two sides agree that current strategies are far from adequate. The rampant trade in illegally harvested tropical timber is described in Environmental Investigation Agency & Telapak, Profiting from Plunder: How Malaysia Smuggles Endangered Wood (2004). The challenge of implementing pollution reduction strategies in developing countries has been the subject of extensive research by the World Bank's New Ideas in Pollution Regulation Program. See for example World Bank, Greening Industry-New Roles for Communities, Markets, and Governments, A World Bank Policy Research Report. (2000) 5 See for example R.O. Keohane, Analyzing the Effectiveness of International Environmental Institutions, in Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls and Promise 3-27 (R.O. Keohane & M.A. Levy, eds. 1996). 6The synergistic concept of civic conservation presented here is consistent with usage of the term civic environmentalism in C.Sirianni & L. Friedland, Civic Innovation in America: Community Empowerment, Public Policy, and the Movement for Civic Renewal (2001). It is important to distinguish the present usage from that of DeWitt, who describes civil society alternatives to government regulation. See J. DeWitt, Civic Environmentalism: Alternatives to Regulation in States and Communities. (1994). 7P. Wapner, Environmental Activism and Civic World Politics. (1996); T. Princen & M. Finger, Environmental NGOs in world politics: Linking the local and the global. (1994). 8 See for example M. Edwards & D. Hulme (eds.), Beyond the Magic Bullet: NGO Performance & Accountability in the Post-Cold War World. (1996). 9There is a considerable but seldom acknowledged congruence between the thinking of populists and libertarians on this point. Compare for example J.C. Scott, Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1998); M. Friedman, Capitalism & Freedom (1962). 10 See P. Hirsch (ed.), Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Environment and Environmentalism in Thailand (1996). See also S.M. Darlington, Rethinking Buddhism and Development: The Emergence of Environmentalist Monks in Thailand, 7 J. Buddhist Ethics (online journal) (2000). 11 All Things Considered: Feature on Artists Protesting Pollution in Tehran (National Public Radio, March 5, 2000). 12 See M.J. Esman & N. Uphoff, Local Organizations: Intermediaries in Rural Development. (1984); J. Fisher, The Road from Rio: Sustainable Development and the Nongovernmental Movement in the Third World. (1993); J. Fisher, Nongovernments: NGOs and the Political Development of the Third World. (1998); L.M. Salamon, Partners in Public Service: Government-NonprofitRelations in the Modern Welfare State (1995); M.E. Keck & K. Sikkink, Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. (1998). 13This section builds on Steinberg, supra note 3, at 156-158. 14H. Hartanto, M.C.B. Lorenzo & A.L. Frio, Collective Action and Learning in Developing a Local Monitoring System, 4(3) Int'l Forestry Rev. 184-195 (2002). 15The Social Learning Group, Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks (2001). 16Steinberg, supra note 3, at 131-152. 17 See S. Rose-Ackerman, Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform 19, 32-35, 213-215, (1999). 18 See A. Contreras Hermosilla, Law Compliance in the Forestry Sector: An Overview (2001); and Environmental Investigation Agency & Telapak, supra note 4. 19W. Ascher, Why Governments Waste Natural Resources: Policy Failures in Developing Countries 79-80 (1999). 20H. Husock, Executive-Led Government and Hong Kong's Legislative Council: Debating Harbor Protection, Case Study 1431.0, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (1998). 21M. S. Grindle & J.W. Thomas, Public Choices and Policy Change: The Political Economy of Reform in Developing Countries (1991). 22Steinberg, supra note 3. 23For a critique see A.-M. Slaughter, The Real New World Order, 76(5) Foreign Aff. 185-197 (1997). 24 See for example J. Langholz, Privatizing Conservation, in Brechin et al., supra note 4 at 117-136. 25 See for example, R.D. Putnam, Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy (1993). 26 See A. Krishna, Moving from the Stock of Social Capital to the Flow of Benefits: The Role of Agency, 29(6) World Dev.925-938 (2001); D. Press, Saving Open Space: The Politics of Local Open Space Preservation in California (2002) 27L.M. Salamon, H.K. Anheier, R. List, S. Toepler, S.W. Sokolowski, & Associates, Global Civil Society: Dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector (1999). 28P.D. Hall, Philanthropy, the Welfare State, and the Transformation of American Public and Private Institutions, 1845-2000 2 (The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Working Paper No. 5, 2000). 29On the general challenges of state-society relations in the developing world, see J. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State Society Relations & State Capabilities in the Third World (1987). The political ecology literature has amply documented zero-sum interactions that impede the prospects for collaboration in conservation policy. See for example N.L. Peluso, Rich Forests, Poor People: Resource Control & Resistance in Java (1992); and S.R. Brechin et al., supra note 4. 30For examples of the impact of authoritarian regimes on state-society relations, see A. Stepan (ed.). Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition & Consolidation, (1989); A. Valenzuela, Chile: Origins, Consolidation, and Breakdown of a Democratic Regime, in Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 4: Latin Am. (L. Diamond, J.J. Linz, & S.M. Lipset, eds. 1989), Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO at 159-206; J.A. Hellman, Mexico in Crisis (1983). 31N.U. Sekhar, Decentralized Natural Resource Management: From State to Co-Management in India, 43(1) Journal of Environmental Planning & Mgmt. 123-138 (2000); M. Gadgil & R. Guha, Ecology & Equity: The Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India (1995). 32A. Brysk, From Tribal Village to Global Village: Indian Rights & International Relations in Latin America (2000). 33 See for example C.A. Reilly (ed.), New Paths to Democratic Development in Latin America: The Rise of NGO-Municipal Collaboration (1995). 34Data are from R.J. Dalton, S. Recchia, & R. Rohrschneider, The Environmental Movement and the Modes of Political Action 36(7) Comparative Pol. Studies 743-771 (2003). 35J. Clark, Democratizing Development: The Role of Voluntary Organizations 75 (1991). 36For examples, see S.S. Gardner, Major Themes in the Study of Grassroots Environmentalism in Developing Countries, 12(2) J. Third World Studies 200-244 (1995); P. Hirsch & C. Warren (eds.), The Politics of Environment in Southeast Asia: Resources and Resistance (1998); K. Hochstetler, The Evolution of the Brazilian Environmental Movement and Its Political Roles, in The New Politics of Inequality in Latin America: Rethinking Participation and Representation 192-216 (D.A. Chalmers et al. eds. 1997); R. Guha & J. Martínez-Alier, Varieties of Environmentalism: Essays North and South (1998); R. Broad & J. Cavanagh, Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines (1993); Y.-S. F.Lee & A.Y. So (eds.), Asia's Environmental Movements: Comparative Perspectives(1999). 37Fisher, supra note 12, at 124. 38Steinberg, supra note 3, at 43, 232. 39World Bank, World Development Report 2003: Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World 40. 40For an overview of these developments from the perspective of social movement theory, see S.E Alvarez, E. Dagnino & A. Escobar (eds.), Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Re-Visioning Latin American Social Movements (1998). 41E. Anbarasan, Choi Yul: The Greening of Korea, 47 UNESCO Courier (2001), available online at http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_02/uk/dires.htm; S.-H. Lee, et al. The Impact of Democratization on Environmental Movements, in Lee & So, supra note 36. 42Lee et al., supra note 36. 43Hochstetler, supra note 36. For an analysis of the relation between democratization and environmental movements in Eastern Europe, see A. Tickle & I. Welsh (eds.), Environment and Society in Eastern Europe (1998). 44 See P.F. Steinberg & R. Garcia-Johnson, Transnational Environmental Actors: Toward an Integrated Approach, paper presented at the International Studies Association annual conference, Chicago, February 20-24, 2001; Keck & Sikkink, supra note 12. 45 See C. Bosso, After the Movement: Environmental Activism in the 1990s, in Environmental policy in the 1990s, 2d ed.(N. J. Vig & M.E. Kraft, eds. 1994), at 31-50; N.J. Vig & M.E. Kraft (eds.), Environmental Policy in the 1980s: Reagan's New Agenda (1984). 46 See R.O. Keohane & M.A. Levy (eds.), Institutions for Environmental Aid: Pitfalls & Promise (1996). 47World Bank, World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets 200 (2001). 48 Supra note 18; Ascher, supra note 19; World Bank, supra note 4; J. Jeyaratnam, Acute Pesticide Poisoning: A Major Global Health Problem. 43 World Health Statistics Q. 139-144 (1990). 49For a sample see A. Angelsen & D. Kaimowitz, Rethinking the Causes of Deforestation: Lessons from Economic Models, 14(1) The World Bank Research Observer 73-98 (1999); J. Smith, K. Subarudi, & I. Suramenggala, Illegal Logging, Collusive Corruption and Fragmented Governments in Kalimantan, Indonesia, 5(3) Int'l Forestry Rev. 293-302 (2003); P. Dauvergne, Shadows in the Forest: Japan & the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia (1997); C. Gibson, Politicians & Poachers: The Political Economy of Wildlife Policy in Africa (1999); M.L. Ross, Timber Booms & Institutional Breakdown in Southeast Asia (2001). 50E.E. Schattschneider, The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America (1960). 51For an overview of indigenous rights movements in Latin America, see E.D. Langer with E. Muñoz (eds.), Contemporary Indigenous Movements in Latin America, Jaguar Books on Latin America, No. 25 (2003). 52E. Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (1990). 53J.C. Ribot, Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources: Institutionalizing Popular Participation, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC (2002). 54Lee, supra note 41, at 243. 55J.C. Ribot, Decentralisation, Participation and Accountability in Sahelian Forestry: Legal Instruments of Political Administrative Control, 69(1) Africa 23-65 (1999). See also P. Kingston, Patrons, Clients and Civil Society: A Case Study of Environmental Politics in Postwar Lebanon, 23(1) Arab Studies Q. 55-72 (2001). 56E. Feldman, Protection for Whistleblowers. Paper prepared for The Ninth International Anti-Corruption Conference, Durban, South Africa, October 10-15, 1999. 57The International Federation of Environmental Journalists maintains a global network of organizations working in this area. See http://www.ifej.org. 58International groups such as the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Conservation International have established competitive prizes for environmental reporting. See also "The Access Initiative" of the World Resources Institute (www.wri.org). 59Early experiences combining public disclosure programs with market-based regulatory tools are described in World Bank, supra note 4. 60BAPEDAL & World Bank, What Is Proper? Reputational Incentives for Pollution Control in Indonesia, (1995). 61RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, Volunteer Bio-Monitoring, (2003). RARE studies cited in this article were conducted under the author's direction. 62RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, Eco-Hotlines: Improving Environmental Protection through Civic Participation, (2003). Additional methods for improving information flows include right-to-know legislation, freedom of information acts, and environmental impact assessment. See E. Petkova, C. Maurer, N. Henninger, & F. Irwin, Closing the Gap: Information, Participation, and Justice in Decision-making for the Environment, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC (2002). 63RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, Community Watch Dog Activities: The "Eyes and Ears" for Environmental Protection, (2003). 64 Id. Bucket brigades were originally developed by communities fighting toxic emissions in the United States. For a history see http://www.labucketbrigade.org/about/history.shtml. 65RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, Community Watch Dog Activities II: The "Eyes and Ears" for Wildlife Conservation, Arlington, VA (2003). 66B. Child, Zimbabwe, in Decentralization and Biodiversity Conservation (E. Lutz & J. Caldecott, eds. 1996), DC at 123-38. 67Sekhar, supra note 31. 68P.F. Steinberg, Environmental Foreign Policy in Developing Countries: A Capacity-Building Approach, paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, March 24-27, 2002. 69United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, World Bank, World Resources Institute, World Resources 2000-2001, (2001) at 193-205. 70R. Gámez, et al. Costa Rica's Conservation Program and National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), in Biodiversity Prospecting: Using Genetic Resources for Sustainable Development (W.V. Reid et al. eds. 1993), at 53-67. 71RARE Center for Tropical Conservation, "Citizen Standing": A Tool Empowering Citizens to Take Legal Action for the Environment, Arlington, VA (2003). 72For an overview of recent developments in the United States, see E.A. Berger, Comment. Standing at the Edge of a New Millennium: Ending a Decade of Erosion of the Citizen Suit Provision of the Clean Water Act, 59 Md. L. Rev. 1371-1397 (2000); H.P. Henry, Standing: a Shift in Citizen Suit Standing Doctrine (Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, 528 U.S. 167, 2000) 28 Eco. L.Q. 233-252 (2001). 73RARE, supra note 71. See also E. Fernandes. Defending Collective Interests in Brazilian Environmental Law: An Assessment of the 'Civil Public Action,' 3(4) Rev. European Community & Int'l L 253-258 (1996). 74J. Farrington & A. Bebbington (eds.), Reluctant Partners?: Non-governmental Organizations, the State and Sustainable Agricultural Development 75B. Cashore, G. Auld, & D. Newsom, Governing Through Markets: Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-State Authority (2004); G. Gereffi, R. Garcia-Johnson, & E. Sasser, The NGO-Industrial Complex, (July/August) Foreign Pol'y 56-65 (2001). 76The Conservation Finance Alliance, a consortium of NGOs and international agencies interested in sustainable sources of environmental funding, maintains a useful website describing conservation trust funds and related mechanisms. See http://www.conservationfinance.org/. 77The best empirical data on this phenomenon comes from a study of patterns of political recruitment in the United States. See S. Verba, K.L. Schlozman & H.E. Brady, Voice & Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics (1995). 78G.A. Almond & S. Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (1989). 79Salamon et al., supra note 27. 80 See for example World Bank, supra note 47

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