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Progress through Process – Section 2

Setting Out The Governance Challenge

- Next The central idea behind sustainable development is that economic prosperity and environmental protection are compatible when pursued the right way. This is not the usual way of looking at them. Too often, sustainable development is approached as a zero-sum game in which the environment and economy are competing interests. When one gains, the other loses. In this view, the best policy makers can hope for is a good “balance” between the two.

Sustainable development: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” – Bruntland Commission

Governance: The processes and institutions through which society makes and implements public policy decisions. This includes the range of political, organizational and administrative processes involved in the making and implementing of public policy decisions, and how decision-makers are held accountable.

In fact, the environment and economy can be—and often are—mutually enhancing. We see this, for example, in the development of new green technologies, such as wind power or carbon sequestration, which also provide promising opportunities for new economic growth. The challenge for sustainable development is to align these allegedly competing interests in new and creative ways that allow us to pursue them in tandem. To do so, we need to seriously look at equally new and creative ways of collaborative governance. If Canadians don’t want to choose between prosperity and ecology, between economy and environment, then we have to consider creating governance mechanisms that are uniquely crafted for the distinct nature of sustainable development issues. We need to find better ways of aligning or integrating interests in ways that lead to sustainable development. Otherwise it will prove enduringly difficult to overcome the polarization and lack of trust that too often permeates environment-economy discussions. We argue—and our participants agreed—that a key part of the problem lies in the structures and institutions through which sustainable development issues are considered. “Current governance structures reinforce old conversations,” was how one participant put it. Government invites an airing of views and offers to listen, but typically maintains the final decision-making authority. At the extreme, this degenerates into a winner-take-all style of discussion and debate, pitting one interest against another, as people feel compelled to compete for government’s ear. If we want this to change, we need to rethink how governments engage stakeholders. We must redesign engagement processes so that they reward stakeholders for being flexible, deliberate, and thoughtful. The way to encourage positive stakeholder behaviour is to give stakeholders a greater say in defining the solutions, which they will view as a better way to advance their interests. But in exchange, they must make a serious commitment to a real dialogue process with other stakeholders, aimed at finding truly sustainable solutions—that is, solutions that accommodate their respective interests by aligning and integrating them in new ways. In a nutshell, such a process is designed to encourage stakeholders to stop competing and start collaborating. This is not to say that such processes will always succeed; there are often real, irreconcilable differences. Where no consensus is possible, government is obliged to decide on the basis of a broader public interest having heard information and views. Nevertheless, new opportunities for integration and alignment are emerging. With the right process and commitment, stakeholders who view one another as competitors—even rivals—often begin to discover common ground. This kind of collaboration acknowledges that the capacity of governments is limited, but in doing so, it takes nothing away from the role of government. Sustainable development issues, such as climate change, biodiversity, and air quality, are complex in the sense that no single department or government can manage them alone. Successful governance for sustainable development should include the participation of stakeholders and ultimately, the public—both in finding and in implementing the right solutions. In effect, collaborative processes simply ask stakeholders to recognize and accept that they have a real role to play alongside government in finding and implementing solutions to such problems. The rest of this report sets out our response to this governance challenge. First, we illustrate some of the ways in which government, industry, communities, and citizens in Canada have responded to this challenge. We highlight some lessons learned. In doing so, we make the case for collaborative models of governance that bring stakeholders together with government as partners for making and implementing sustainable development policy. We then outline what we see as the essential elements of successful collaborative governance for sustainable development.