Contribution of Marine Spatial Planning in Mexico to Marine and Coastal Management

Marine spatial planning in Mexico is materialized by the ecological ordinance, a cross-sectoral environmental policy instrument. Throughout this instrument, government seeks to strengthen coordination between authorities and society to counter and correct negative consequences of sectoral planning in different government agencies moving forward towards integrated coastal management and the blue economy. The purpose of this article is to describe the experience of marine spatial planning in Mexico, with an emphasis on collaborative governance. The intention is that this perspective may prove its usefulness for other countries with similar socioeconomic, environmental characteristics and/or governance.

A systematic review of barriers impeding the implementation of government green procurement

Purpose Government green procurement (GGP) is becoming a popular environmental policy instrument to spur the economy whilst protecting the environment. However, the implementation of GGP is impeded by various barriers. This paper aims to analyse the existing literature on barriers impeding GGP. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review was guided by the PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) review method. A total of 29 articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases were selected for the review. Findings Five themes, i.e. finance, legal, people, knowledge and organisation, emerged from this review, which further produced 16 sub-themes. Lack of knowledge and awareness were the major barriers for GGP, while financial constraint was not the major barrier for GGP, as previously perceived. Barriers related to organisation were the most complex. Certain barriers were found more in developed or developing countries. Research limitations/implications Only article journals with empirical data were selected. Review articles, book series, books, chapters in books and conference proceedings were excluded. Practical implications Public managers should place highest priority to enhance knowledge and awareness of procurers on GGP. Other important initiatives to be undertaken include emulating best practices, implementing change management and incentivising suppliers to tackle the prevalent barriers of GGP. Finally, with increasing evidences on barriers related to GGP, public managers should consider mapping and analysing specific barriers hindering GGP in their organisation/country. Social implications A less challenging and efficient implementation of GGP contributes to a cleaner environment. Originality/value This article will be the first to systematically review the barriers of GGP.

Strengthening of Intersectoral and Intergovernmental Relationships: Learned Lessons in the Marine Use Planning Process in Mexico

Marine Use Planning (MUP) came up formally in Mexico as Environmental Policy Instrument in 1996. Through the National Environmental Policy for Sustainable Development of Oceans and Coast of Mexico issued in 2006, the Environmental and Natural Resources Secretariat (SEMARNAT) of Mexico encourages the formulation of Marine Use Plans. Considering the regional approach of this Plans, the relationships between stakeholders such as Federal and State Government (as public administration) and civil society, are essential in its formulation stages. Under this perspective and based on the learned experiences in the federal administrations (2000-2006 and 2006-2012), a non-exhaustive review on the way these relationships have been developed, and the main problems related to the coordination process between the involved sectors, is presented in this paper. Keywords: State government, federal government, marine use planning, integrated coastal zone management, policy instrument.

Dynamic Environmental Governance Enhanced Sustainable Biodiversity Management in Bangladesh

Governance is one of the most essential instruments for environmental management. Biodiversity is in the core field of environmental governance. Yet environmental authorities are persistently challenged the loss of biodiversity as a very important global issue for several years due to high dependent exposure to risks. The study attempts to relook at the key governance tools that strengthen policies towards managing biodiversity within and around the national park’s survey in Moulvibazar district. The study showed that biodiversity related legislation amended was the highest in Bangladesh for the period of 2010 to 2016. The growth of policy instruments maximized at but in low environmental governance services within the same period. The study assessed that the existing environmental policy instrument is inadequate and sluggish for effective conservation, compared with several others governance tools and various performances are still below par. Governance knowledge is indispensable for biodiversity management but such knowledge is poorly identified. These results reflect the importance of effective governance for transparency that the State provides. The research is to represent a dynamic and adaptable framework that can be applied for collective governance relevant to policy integration, participation and enforcement in order to foster environmental conservation sustainability.

Environmental Taxation

This chapter examines the comparative merits of environmental taxation as an environmental policy instrument. It first provides a brief background on the theoretical foundation for merging environmental protection with taxation before discussing two categories of environmental taxation instruments: environmental taxes (e.g. emissions or effluent taxes, product taxes, energy taxes, pollution taxes) and environmental tax expenditures (also known as tax preferences or tax incentives). It then considers the legal authority of governments to create and administer an environmental taxation instrument, along with the basic legal design features of environmental taxes. It also cites specific examples that illustrate the diversity of environmentally related taxes. Finally, it demonstrates the use of environmental taxation in practice by presenting case studies of carbon taxes in several jurisdictions such as British Columbia, Ireland, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union, as well as the United States’ income tax credit for wind farms.

Moving Steadily or Great Leap Forward? The Emerging Carbon Market in China

China has become a large greenhouse gas (‘GHG’) emissions source due to its rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Given the heavy environmental footprint caused by China’s economic growth, the Chinese government has recognised the need to control carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Indeed, China has made remarkable progress in reducing its energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (‘GDP’). However, these improvements are mainly the result of the most readily available abatement options. Given that simple solutions have almost been exhausted, cost-effective market-based instruments such as carbon emissions trading and carbon markets have become the focus of the Chinese leadership’s attention and have begun to emerge and develop in China. At this stage the primary issue that must be considered by the Chinese government is how to implement an emissions trading scheme (‘ETS’) — whether to adopt such a new environmental policy instrument step by step in an evolutionary manner or whether to fully implement it instantly in a revolutionary way. This article considers the future direction of an emerging carbon market in China. It first provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of current pilot ETS programs in China. Based on the review of these programs, China’s pilot ETS programs and the well-established European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (‘EU ETS’) are compared. The improvements made by, and the shortcomings of, these pilot programs (which could be considered by the Chinese government in choosing an appropriate development model of the ETS in the near future) are summarised. The article concludes by assessing the prospects of an ETS in China.