Santiago Enriquez

Using policy-based strategic environmental assessments in water supply and sanitation sector reforms: the cases of Argentina and Colombia

This paper reviews the strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) that were prepared to incorporate environmental considerations in water supply and sanitation sector (WSS) reforms in Argentina and Colombia. Based on the reviewed cases and on existing literature, the paper proposes a methodology specifically designed to incorporate environmental considerations in the design and implementation of public policies, in this case water supply and sanitation policies. The proposed methodology has the potential to overcome the limitations that arise when traditional SEA methodologies are applied in the policy context. It can be conceptualized as consisting of: identification of sector priorities; incorporation of the perspectives of multiple stakeholders; institutional and political economy analysis; incorporation of environmental considerations in public policies; and social learning for continuous policy improvement.

Sustainability and poverty alleviation : Confronting environmental threats in Sindh, Pakistan

Sindhs environmental and climate change problems call for urgent responses. A number of feasible interventions could be carried out to address the categories of environmental degradation that have the highest impacts on Sindhs population. Many of those interventions have positive benefit-cost ratios, meaning that every rupee invested in them would result in health and social benefits worth more than one rupee. Addressing these challenges also calls for targeted institutional strengthening and policy improvements, particularly after the 18th Constitutional Amendment devolved environmental management responsibilities to provincial governments. The underlying goal of this book is to facilitate and stimulate sharing of information on these phenomena, and to provide an interdisciplinary framework for bringing about improved environmental conditions in Sindh. It includes a methodology that enables the identification of environmental and climate change priority problems; the analysis of interventions to address such problems; the establishment of a social learning mechanism to continuously improve Sindhs responses and build resilience in the face of climate variability and change; and opportunities for the potential involvement of different stakeholder groups to decisively tackle climate change and deteriorating environmental conditions.