Policy integration for sustainable NRM: joint research and policy learning

Citation

Land & Water Australia. 2009. Policy integration for sustainable NRM: joint research and policy learning. [Online] (Updated June 24th, 2009)
Available at: http://lwa.gov.au/node/2995 [Accessed Sunday 21st of March 2010 03:46:22 PM ].

Sustainable natural resources management requires the integration of economic, social and environmental considerations in policy and decision-making. For example the economic and social advantages of land clearing and irrigation need to be balanced with environmental costs such as salinity and soil erosion.

In practice, environmental goals often receive lower priority because they have a relatively weak political constituency - the benefits of clean air and water are diffused across large areas and populations, and the values of some environmental elements such as biodiversity are unclear. This has resulted in the increasing concerns about environmental policy integration - the incorporation of environmental objectives into economic and social policies and policy assessments. Environmental policy integration includes the extent of integration across economic sectors and government functions, and the relative priority given to environmental policy integration in the policy-making system.

This project examined past and current experiences in policy integration (environmental, social, economic) internationally and especially in Australia, to develop a better understanding of the barriers to and opportunities for policy integration in NRM, environmental management and sustainability.

Project Objectives

To undertake a process combining original research and active policy learning across and within Australian jurisdictions:

To describe and analyse international trends and provisions for policy and institutional settings to enable policy integration in the domains of natural resource management, environmental management and sustainable development
To describe and comparatively analyse current practices and structures for policy integration in Australian jurisdictions
To synthesise and draw lessons from and above, to clarify best practice and to define options for improving policy integration capacities through methodological development and/or development of policy and institutional change, and to communicate this knowledge widely
To further develop networks and capacities in policy integration in Australia