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What provides motivation for action?
Current
motivation for countries to pay attention to the environment include:
- internal forces
(increased awareness) as well as
- external forces
such as trade concerns and donor preference on environment
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Internal forces include:
- Government's increased
awareness towards sustainable development
- Political motivation,
e.g. voters' preference, pressures by NGOs, consumer groups, etc
- Economic motivation
e.g., securing long term supply of natural resources
External
forces include:
- Pressures by international
society
- Preference of donor
countries
- Economic motivation
e.g., preference of trading partners to "environmental goods"
With increasing awareness, public and government may perceive
sustainable development as their own political goal.
Such
awareness building is sometimes encouraged by
- in-house learning
and training seminars,
- projects targeting
efficiency improvements in energy, waste discharge, etc.
- the pressures by
NGOs and international organizations.
As awareness grows, and the issues become understood,
people realize action is required to prevent a long
term decline in well-being.
- Read about examples
from PICs.
Other major factors
and motivation for action come from the
influence
of donors and lending institutes on sustainable development policies.
Donor countries' concern on environmental issues are reflected to development
projects in developing countries through preference on environment assessments
as precondition for loans on development projects, on environment related
programers reflecting higher priority on environment addressed by donors
and international agencies, etc.
While
the donor and lender influence is effective it does not have the same
impact that true understanding of the issues brings. Governments might,
for example, accept the terms of various contracts without being committed
to following them through. Smaller, aid-dependant countries, such as the
Pacific island
countries, are especially influenced by donor and lending policy.
However, such donor driven activities could themselves stimulate the awareness
of the recipient governments.
- Click the Next
button to review the contents of
this Section on "Integrated Processes."
- Or click here for
information on how to form national
visions.
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