Factors of Sustainability Assessment

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particularly exposed to inappropriate human attitude; they usually recover. On the contrary, the findings of Brown et al. (1991) and Flint and Richards (1991, 1994) in forest resource studies showed that in many tropical forests the average biomass is declining by selective logging. An example was drawn from Malaysia that over the period 1972 1982 the loss of forest was 18% and the loss of total biomass was 28%. In reality, subsequent processes of logging cause more degradation than the logging itself. For example, among the predicted subsequent reasons for land use change, urbanization is considered as an important reason in recent decades (WRI, 1996). Although the expansion of urban area is not alarming in comparison to the expansion of the agricultural areas, the sprawling suburban area is displacing both agricultural and natural ecosystems by dumping and poisonous gas emissions. Therefore, resource issues for policy evaluation range from core resource operation activities to encroachment profile and involve a wide variety of agents or actors. The following sections describe some of those issues.

10.2 ACTOR AS POLICY FACTOR

Resource operations in developing countries are influenced by a range of socially visible and invisible actors from home and abroad. Identification of them in the policy may be possible by the display made by them. Boehmer-Christiansen and Skea (1991) noted that the science and politics interfaces are important fields of practices through which discursive power is exercised by the actors and which should accordingly be included in a discourse analysis of the policy process. Here, the term science politics interface signifies that political decision making in the policy process is delimited by the scientific findings.

According to Hajer (1995), there may be three kinds of key actors operating in the field of resource policy:

1.Group of actors seeking solution of the problem who work on behalf of the government or executive agency (let us say progovernment).

2.Groups who differ with the actions of the government (antigovernment).

3.The third group is the NGO, contextual or extraregional actors who work outside the government but play an active role (neutrogovernment).

The activities of these actors may facilitate or prevent the formation of a coalition, either discourse or actor coalition, to anticipate the seriousness of an environmental crisis, and the effectiveness of existing regulations or strategies. For example, in developing society, antigovernment actors sometimes oppose a government decision, even if it is good, to make the situation politically argumentative. Such a noncoalition results in the lack of an appropriate relationship between science and policy, defies maintenance of social order, and disguises the questions of morality, responsibility, and social justice.

10.3 GLOBAL RESOURCE FACTOR

As the global influences on resources are transmitted through political actors, the action and influence of political actors determines the applied status of global influence. However, the positioning of political actors in a country depends on how the local actions are tackled. Thus, fixed at appropriate levels, different measures of government intervention are expected to secure global influence on domestic resources. Government attempts may consist of either a sustained support to domestic consumers over an extended period or a pattern of controlling international trade flow to bring equitable income distribution and overall economic welfare (FAO, 1988). Thus, resource policies aimed at satisfying domestic consumers’ income in one case and essential goods supply in the other often have pronounced short-term consequences on world trade and a long-term consequence on forest health. Therefore, domestic stabilization sought by both exporters and importers of resources needs to be oriented on the buffer areas of resources. It may be thought that market protectionism may have a good effect on resource protection, but when the demand for a particular commodity grows and the market expands, unfortunately protectionism has limited effect (Amelung and Diehl, 1992).

10.4 LOCAL RESOURCE FACTORS

The above section underscores that structural and market stability of local conditions is important for sustainable resource use. However, the local actors also need to understand that if resources were lost, subsequent critical environmental conditions developed from such losses would be very expensive, and that the efficiency of the whole economy may suffer. According to some critics, these distortions in economies

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will constitute the main cost of resource policies in terms of their adverse effects on overall output. The main adverse effects could be:

•Barrier to industrialization

•Cost to domestic economies

•cost to consumers—have to pay higher price

•cost to tax payers—may need to pay more to support the program

•cost to efficiency of the economy.

Thus, the policy evaluation of resources needs to notice how the local investment is flowing in the resource sector and how public agencies are responding to the flow of investment.

10.5 PARTICIPATION FACTOR

Peoples’ participation is one of the local criteria that often determines the sustainability status of resource policy. People’s involvement may be economic, social, cultural, and/or political. Participation involves at least three things (3Ps), people, process, and perspectives (objectives/ resources). In case of policy participation, people may be involved either in process or as target group (perspectives) or both. Often participation in a policy process means participation in decision making which in practice may not be holistic participation if the policy does not get implemented due to lack of implementing vehicles like institutions. Therefore, when the term participation comes in, sustainability evaluation demands to know who the participants are and in what form at what stage they are involved; but they do not underscore the other components of the policy like government and institution.

Peoples’ participation can be evaluated by their number and by the level of empowerment in the governance, markets, or community organizations. But as the educational profile of people in countries like Bangladesh is low, or not very comprehensive, leadership and governance capacity of the participants seldom develop other than comprehensive participation. However, it is not uncommon that the players may utilize the groups to hold their power in governance through which they can materialize their ill motives. Therefore, in developing countries it would be wise to proceed carefully to determine which discourses of participation should be appropriate.