Last modified: 2017-05-10
Abstract
Pro-Environmental Municipal Development Governance in Latvia: Sustainability and Integrative Approaches
Raimonds Ernsteins, Ivars Kudrenickis, Janis Kaulins, Anita Lontone-Ievina
Environmental Science Department, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
E-mail: raimonds.ernsteins@lu.lv (corresponding author);
Abstract (extended yet version). Studies being presented here have been done as initial part of wider research programme, aiming to investigate preconditions and all instruments set for environmental governance necessary developments within legally required societal (sustainable) development planning framework and municipal management practice studying governance content, process and stakeholders as of complex socio-ecologic systems, starting from local household and municipal level, and later on up to national planning level in Latvia.
Accordingly, there have been designed three, to be complementary implemented, directions of studies at local municipal level: municipal development governance and environmental governance as well as integrative cross-sectoral thematic governance studies. Particular content depends on research stage and for the first initial study pilot investigations has been planned to be done as various thematical case studies in pre-selected model municipalities - six studies/pilot studies, based on the integrated case study research methodology, including and complementary to be applied - document studies, interviews, surveys, observations and focus groups.
In the context of both sectoral (voluntary approach at the local/regional level) and general (compulsory approach, required at all planning levels) complementary planning approaches, there is to be studied necessary developments of municipal environmental governance as this sectoral approach is not mandatory anymore and is not separately planned, subsequently, as successfully as possible, the integration into the process and content of the development planning and vice versa should be done. This could be recognized not only as local community pro-environmental development problem, but also as one of the main municipal development problem. The success of this complementarity provision or mutual integration of environemntal and development governance is essentially defined directly by municipal environmental/sustainability communication.
In summary there is to be recognized insufficient integration of sustainability principle when designing, processing and approving the local sustainable development strategies and further on also mandatory mid-term planning documents. It is necessary to develop innovative methodologies and tools, e.g. one of such evetual instruments not only for measuring but also for designing of sustainability planning is indicator system for sustainable development governance and such model case is now studied further. Since environmental sector planning documents are not mandatory anymore at local municipalities, environmental sector planning process and content is often limited, but few ad hot used formal instruments are neither sufficient nor used longer as per evaluation case timing. Eventual development of Environmental Governance Outlook concept, elaborated and to be tested during next project stages, might promote awareness/understanding and ensure integration of necessary information into all stages of environmental and/or development governance cycle. Further studies will be concentrated in particular on municipal governance contents’ and processes’ detailes in order to manage into practice the necessary substantive interaction of development governance and environmental governance cycles, even first results and elaborated local action policy innovations have found first interest of local decision makers and planners.
Keywords: municipal, environmental and development governance, planning content and process, instruments, sustainability and integration approaches
Jel Classification: Q01
Conference topic: Contemporary Issues of Economics and Management Studies: Problems and Perspectives