This special issue of the journal Environmental Science & Policy reviews national, regional and international experiences with environmental policy integration.
Although environmental policy integration (EPI) has been around as a concept for several decades, relatively little is known about what works in practice. This special issue takes stock of the EPI practices being applied in a range of contexts.
A clear pattern emerges from the cases presented: while ambitions for EPI are often high, and in some cases substantial advances have been made, commitment to integration often tails off before the policy implementation stage, where challenges typically arise. Nevertheless, policy integration is an issue that keeps coming back, so there is a real need to enhance EPI knowledge and practice.
The special issue, which comprises volume 85 of Environmental Science & Policy, contains 11 peer-reviewed articles. Eight of the articles were originally presented in a section on EPI at the 2016 General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research, which was organised by the Working Group on EPI under the umbrella of the Earth System Governance Taskforce on Conceptual Foundations.
The special issue is edited by a team including SEI’s Åsa Persson, along with Hens Runhaar, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Gerard Mullally, Duncan Russel, Alexander Widmer. Persson also co-authors three articles in the special issue.
An Editorial, “Environmental policy integration: taking stock of policy practice”, is written by the editorial team for the special issue. It surveys the articles in the special issue and introduces a typology of EPI used throughout the articles.
A Policy note, “Lessons from environmental policy integration for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda” by Åsa Persson and Måns Nilsson was published in 2017. Read more.
A final article, “Conclusion: drawing lessons for environmental policy integration and prospects for future research“, written by Åsa Persson and Hens Runhaar, synthesises lessons and patterns from the cases presented in the special issue, and recommends directions for future research, including more comparative analyses and to better understand the role of EPI in societal transition and transformation.
Design and development by Soapbox.