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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 I - Essay on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- ESSAY -
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does
to the web he does to himself. Chief Seattle, Native American Leader, 1857.

Definition and Summary

C. Local Self Governance: Keystone for Environmentally Sound Development

Urban and rural environmental problems result as much from faulty policies and bad management practices as uncontrolled growth. Since local self-governments can determine policies and improve management practices, there is hope that realistic and effective solutions can be found in time to resolve the ecological crises that grip metropolitan regions like Mexico City and the Silesia Valley, and rural areas such as Upper Michigan. There are also examples of successes we can draw upon to increase our understanding of how to move toward the goal of sustainable development. The Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) is one important initiative, among others, aimed at bringing about positive changes in the dynamic interaction among economic, social, and physical development and the natural environment.

Let's look at some of the principles and assumptions that guide SCP and form the basis for the role of environmental guardian by local elected officials.

1. The environment is a resource to be managed on a sustainable basis - not something to be "protected" from development. (The difference is important: it means a pro-active stance toward the environment, not a re-active response.)
2. There is a dynamic relationship between development and environment. This relationship can be either beneficial or detrimental, depending on how it is managed within the existing policy framework. If elected leaders are pro-active in setting the policy framework, and provide the necessary organization and human resources to manage their enlightened policies, they will be on their way to sustainable development.
3. The natural environment offers resources, which support economic growth and urban development, and at the same time present potential hazards. The resources are water, land, air, forests, minerals and natural fisheries. The hazards are a combination of "worldly" events, human foibles, floods, earthquakes and erosion. We may not be able to control them, but we can anticipate their potential and manage their consequences.
4. While development has an impact on the environment in both positive and negative ways, the choice can be more deliberate on our part by managing the development-environment interface more assertively.

Environmental problems are messy, complex, multidimensional, interactive, dynamic and, more often than not, poorly understood. Given this mix of unconventional characteristics, your local government organization (which is probably compartmentalized, service oriented and somewhat bureaucratic) may find it difficult to adapt to the kinds of challenges inherent in urban environmental situations. This may require you and your colleagues on council to give more thought to your role as institution builder.

Given the complexity of the challenge you and your colleagues face in becoming more effective Guardians of the Environment, it is essential to have some "how-to-do-it" tools at your discretion. The tools we will be describing are being used by many local governments around the world in their efforts to be more effective and efficient in addressing a wide range of community problems and opportunities. Some are specific to the environment-development dilemma, others are more multipurpose in their application.

Before we begin to describe these tools, we want to suggest a special kind of toolbox you can use. If you've had your automobile to a garage for maintenance you have probably seen the mechanic, with his head under the bonnet, reach behind him without looking back and select just the right tool to fix the problem. He knows what kind of tool he needs at the time, but he also has a toolbox that organizes those tools in a logical way. Sockets here, vise grips there, and end wrenches just where they are supposed to be. To be an effective and efficient environmental guardian, you need special tools and a special kind of toolbox, a managing change toolbox.

One of the constant themes in management and organization development research and practice over the past three decades is something called managing change. It is one of the few popular phrases, and phases, of general management theory and practice that has survived the test of time. More importantly managing change, as a conceptual framework, has become a common strategy for use in many other professions. We think it makes sense for councillors to become change managers, particularly as you increase your commitment and actions to guard the environment. Let's look at some of the assumptions and strategies that have become accepted by managers and others in their efforts to "manage change."

1. Managing change assumes that change is a constant factor in our everyday life. Furthermore, there is the underlying assumption that these ever present changes can and should be managed.
2. Managing change requires widespread consultation with others: councillors with other points of view, community leaders, entrepreneurs, employees, and others.
3. Managing change puts a premium on learning new ideas, concepts, skills and behaviours.
4. Managing change cannot happen without two-way communication and dialogue that puts a premium on giving and receiving feedback.
5. Managing change requires creative thinking and experimentation. Finding new pathways to sustaining development and restoring and maintaining environmental resources must include the freedom to fail.
6. Managing change involves a series of purposeful actions, carried out within a framework of analytical and creative thinking.

• A. Gaining Awareness and Creating Visions (seeing "what is" and "what can be" more clearly, in terms of environmental risks and sustainable development);
• B. Seeking Partners and Building Coalitions (establishing productive relationships and forging working alliances to further sustainable development);
• C. Assessing Environmental Risks (determining and analyzing the present and future environmental risks within your locality);
• D. Exploring Options and Consequences (identifying alternative courses of action and their potential consequences with special emphasis on the use of environmentally sound technologies);
• E. Mobilizing Resources (garnering the wide range of assets and means needed for implementing sustainable development programmes and strategies);
• F. Achieving and Sustaining Results (implementing optimal environmental and development programmes and strategies that help ensure the quality of life for future generations).

If local self-governance is to be the successful keystone for environmentally sound development, we are suggesting you may want to acquire some new tools, or maybe remove the rust from those you haven't used for a while. Finally, we think it makes sense to organize these tools in such a way that you can have easy access to them. The remainder of this Handbook will discuss these tools, the way others have used them in their role as Guardian of the Environment, and how you can employ them to plan, manage and implement sustainable development in your community.

Shown on the next page is a model of the framework described above. Think of each of the circles in the model as one of the drawers in a toolbox of analytical and creative actions you can use to fulfill your role as Guardian of the Environment. There is no one starting point. For example, you might decide to begin by building a coalition of stakeholders. And you don't have to move in any particular direction. You might move to the left to construct a vision or perhaps to the right to assess risks. You might even jump around to analyse some options (environmentally sound technologies) for coping with a known risk.

There are two special features we want to point out about this toolbox before you begin to use it. First, it is designed to serve the needs of elected officials. While it might look like a management toolbox there are subtle and significant differences. For example, we don't spend much time on how to manage the implementation of sustainable development programmes and strategies although we do insist on results, and so should you! Effective councillors:

• develop overall policies and guidelines that provide direction and structure to staff and other involved parties;
• mobilize the resources required to carry out council plans; and
• insist that resources be used effectively and efficiently by those who are responsible for implementation of council programmes and services.

Second, this toolbox is more flexible than most. You will quickly realize that the various drawers (where you keep your sustainable development tools) can and should be moved around. When we were designing this toolbox we had a difficult time deciding, for example, where to put the drawer for partners and coalitions. While we decided these tools are needed very early in the process of managing complex changes in the community, we also realized that new partners must be found and coalitions built as you move from one step to another in designing and implementing environmental interventions. Some of the tools you will need to pick up and use again and again (just like a good set of pliers). Your effectiveness as a Guardian of the Environment will depend on your ability to reuse some of these tools frequently and to not hesitate to shunt back and forth from one drawer in the toolbox to another.

We have used the metaphor of a toolbox to describe a process for planning and managing complex changes that will need to take place in most communities if sustainable development is to become a reality. Some of you may have thought (as you were reading about it) that this was an unusual way to characterize the various steps on the process. Others may have been saying to themselves, "these mental pictures have been useful in helping me visualize how the process works." Think, for a moment, about the importance of metaphors, similes, proverbs, parables, and stories in your efforts to communicate on a daily basis with others. And, the way you use them to make complex ideas and concepts more understandable. These language and thinking tools enrich our ability to move from the abstract to the concrete. And, from what we can tell, are used in most, if not all societies, to enrich communication and understanding. They help us create new approaches and solve problems by turning them on their head. (Another metaphor!)

We think sustainable development and environmentally sound policies and programmes are concepts that become clearer through mental visualization (for example, thinking in metaphors). Before moving on to the next chapter, we suggest you reflect for a moment about your community and what it will look like in ten to fifteen years if you and other leaders do little to address some of the environmental risks that already exist in your community. We suggest you use metaphors, similes, even parables to paint mental pictures of your community's future if environmental problems that already exist are ignored. And, draw them in the box below, rather than using words! We want to help you get into condition before you and others take on the challenge of visualizing the future of your community through the use of sound environmental practices and sustainable development.

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