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I. NATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO THE POLICY DECISION PROCESS
[ I-A | I-B
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B. National structure for the integration of environmental concerns into economic policy decisions
[ B | B-1
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B-2 | B-3 ]
3. Ad hoc bodies
A number of ad hoc (i.e., irregular, temporary, or informal) modalities also exist to complement the more formal and permanent arrangements described in the above structures.
The ad hoc bodies also facilitate coordination among the agencies concerned in matters which may require either urgent and priority action, specialized and focused attention or which do not conveniently fall under the purview of a single department or office.
There has also been an increasing trend towards the establishment of such type of bodies for the implementation of projects, notably those concerned with the integration of environmental concerns into decision-making, for example, the United Nations Development Programme-assisted project on Integrated Environmental Management for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Natural Resources Accounting Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank Metropolitan Environmental Improvement Project.
Integrated Environmental Management for Sustainable Development, for example, has established a number of multi-agency, multisectoral Technical Working Groups (e.g., environment and natural resources accounting, environmental impact assessment, the integration of environmental and socio-economic development policies in decision-making).
The objective of creating those modalities is to effect the institutionalization of integrated decision-making within the structures of the agencies concerned.
The interagency composition of the policy-making and implementing bodies (e.g., Steering Committees and Technical Working Groups) also facilitate the advocacy for integration, since the actual involvement of agencies and departments in areas which normally do not fall within their direct purview serves as an awareness raising opportunity.
Of course, one of the primary purposes of establishing such bodies is to enable the agencies involved to provide the information they receive from those forums as direct inputs into the policies of their respective agencies.
At the same time, such forums are good venues for articulating the concern of a specific agency over matters under discussion.
These ad hoc arrangements are not confined to interagency undertakings but also exist within particular departments which may have, even internally, diverse units as is the case with NEDA which has sectoral (e.g., agriculture, infrastructure and social development), as well as functional units (e.g., public investment, planning and policy, project monitoring).
For example, to address sustainable development concerns and to coordinate the integration of such concerns into its planning, programming and evaluation work, NEDA has set up an Interstaff Technical Working Group on Sustainable Development.
NEDA also has a Technical Working Group which deals with synchronized planning, programming and budgeting scheme which ensures that sectoral plans, programmes and budgets remain consistent with the macro targets.
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