Policy development and the environment

Abstract

Following on from a quantitative (questionnaire- based) study into policy-making procedures and the consideration of environmental concerns therein within Australian government agencies, a further qualitative study was undertaken to identify opportunities for modifying and improving existing approaches and methodologies for strategic environmental assessment (SEA). Based on semi-structured interviews of senior public servants, an investigation of existing policy-making procedures, methods of incorporating environmental concerns into these procedures, and measures to improve the policy process to account better for environmental concerns was carried out. The results show that the variation in both agency policy-making procedures and the degree to which environmental concerns are incorporated into policy-making compel the selective application of existing and proposed SEA approaches to suit the required circumstances.

Keywords:

• strategic environmental assessment
• policy development
• Australia