The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment


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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment>

An Essay and Workshop for Local Elected Leaders on Environmental Governance
with Emphasis on Adopting Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs)
- Training for Elected Leadership -

Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- WORKSHOP -

WORKSHOP COMPONENTS

13.12 Exercise: ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILING

Time Required: 90 minutes

Objective:

To compile problem-specific, environmental data useful to decision makers in understanding the constraints imposed by the infrastructure and institutional framework through which the problem must be solved.

Process:

Give participants an Environmental Profile Worksheet and ask them to complete the worksheet in their small groups in relation to the environmental problem identified by their respective groups in Exercise 13.4 on problem formulation. The completed profile should provide a realistic picture of the urban infrastructure relative to the problem and the framework of public, private, and community-based institutions that will influence the outcome of strategies devised to manage the problem. The completed profile also includes an analysis of the ideal composition of a working group organized to move to next steps in decision making and implementation. Ask participants in each small group to read each of the questions on the worksheet. Then suggest that they identify one or more participants in the group who has knowledge about the infrastructure setting and institutional framework for the group's environmental problem. Suggest that they engage in a dialogue with this person or persons and, using another member of the group as a facilitator/recorder, compile information from the discussion on a sheet of newsprint as answers to each of the questions. Ask participants to be prepared in about one hour to report their results in a plenary session.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE WORKSHEET

1. Describe the environmental problem and the potential hazard it poses for people or the ecology if it is allowed to persist.
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2. Identify complications or barriers to environmental problem solving presented by the urban infrastructure. Examples for you to consider in preparing your own list:

	inadequate sewer capacity
	large areas of the area unserved
	shortage of drinking water
	systemic problems like flooding, landslides, drought, deforestation, sea-erosion
	lack of an efficient transportation system
	loss of agricultural land due to urbanization and industrialization

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3. Identify barriers to environmental problem solving represented by the institutional structure. Examples for you to consider in preparing your own list:

	a tradition of "top down" central planning
	the absence of formal linkages among responsible agencies
	poor accessibility to information
	inexperience in inter-sectoral cooperation
	centralization of power

4. Identify the ideal composition of any working group (partners and coalitions) that would be organized to develop problem-specific, environmental strategies. Examples for you to consider in preparing your own list:

	governmental representatives
	business and community groups
	those with relevant technical expertise
	those with substantive concerns that may be affected
	those with important decision-making powers

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