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Criteria for Good Practices for integrating environmental considerations into economic decision making processes

(part of the outcome of the Regional Expert Group Meeting on Integrating Environmental Considerations into Economic Policy Making Processes, 20-24 July 1998)

1. There are two main criteria for determining the "success" of a practice.
   
   
   1. The practice must result in either:
      1. an improvement in the environment situation with at least no deterioration in the socio-economic situation, or
      2. an improvement in the socio-economic situation with at least no deterioration in the environment situation
   2. The practice must be sustainable over time and not a one-off event.
   
   
   
2. There are also many factors which help characterise and measure a "good practice".
   
   These can be classified as:
   1. Process factors
      • participation of the community
      • participation of resource owners/users
      • partnerships between various actors such as government/NGO/academia/private sector
      • degree of co-ordination and co-operation among various government departments
      • ability to attract political interest/support
      • exchange of information
      • procedures for consultations for project formulation feedback and review
   2. Cost/efficiency factors
      • economic (opportunity ) cost
      • institution (transaction) cost
      • exercise of due diligence
   3. Characteristics affecting replication (application)
      • location specific
      • culture specific
      • level of development of country
      • style of government
      • degree of centralisation/decentralisation
      • types of instruments used in country (command and control, market based, etc)