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Module

Discussion Questions 5

Q: Can you think of examples in your country of policies that had impact on a specific state

of the environment? Was this impact good or bad?
Abu Dhabi, UAE
A:

Q: Is it possible that other policies also had an impact on this environmental state?

A:

6.2 Steps in the analysis of existing policies

The policy analysis steps introduced in this section emphasize the need to link actual policy

performance with criteria for policy performance. Policy performance criteria are expressions of
expected outcomes related to the implementation of the policy, preferably in quantitative terms
and with a time limit (for example, achieve a 20% reduction in the number of smog days within ten
years). One of the common challenges with this approach is that performance criteria are implicit

and assumed or simply unknown.

Most or perhaps all environmental change, however, is a result of not one but multiple influences

and policies. There are many potential constellations of influencing factors that can lead to a given
environmental change, though some of these are more common than others. For instance, agricultural
land use, water quality and biodiversity are often interlinked through common impact pathways.

However, while there is a high degree of certainty that choices related to the type and intensity of
cultivation will have biodiversity and water quality implications, these interlnkages may shift over time
and new, strong forces (e.g., climate change) may emerge.

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 83