Policy evaluation is an important and well-established part of the policy process, facilitating and feeding back to promote the ongoing effectiveness of policies that have been implemented or anticipating policies in the making. Environmental policy is a special case, presenting new complexities uncommon to other areas, which standard evaluation tools are ill-equipped to grapple with. It is also an area that is experiencing rapid growth throughout the world and knowledge is now needed at all levels of government and in NGOs, businesses and other organizations, all of whom are required to assess the effectiveness of their policies. This handbook is the first guide to environmental policy evaluation in practice. Beginning with an introduction to the general principles of evaluation, it explains the particular complexities native to the environmental sphere and provides a comprehensive toolkit of evaluation methods and techniques which the practitioner can employ and refer to again and again. The authors also consider design issues which may face the policy evaluator, including involvement of stakeholders, the sensitivities between them, the a priori assessment of the evaluability of a field, the maximization of the utilization of the evaluations outcomes, and much more. Throughout, the theory is illustrated with practical examples from around the world, making this the essential companion guide for anyone tasked with ensuring that environmental policy fulfils its aims and achieves its potential.

Policy evaluation is an important and well-established part of the policy process, facilitating and feeding back to promote the ongoing effectiveness of policies that have been implemented or anticipating policies in the making. While all policy areas have their own peculiarities, which must be considered, these are often taken into account by standard evaluation methods, which have been honed over many years of testing. Environmental policy, however, is a special case which presents new complexities uncommon to other areas, and which standard evaluation tools are ill equipped to grapple with. It is also an area that is experiencing rapid growth throughout the world and knowledge is now needed at all levels of government and in NGOs, businesses and other organizations, all of whom are required to assess the effectiveness of their policies.This handbook is the first guide to environmental policy evaluation in practice. Beginning with an introduction to the general principles of evaluation, it then explains the particular complexities native to the environmental sphere. The third section provides a comprehensive toolkit of evaluation methods and techniques, which the practitioner can employ and refer to repeatedly. The fourth section considers design issues which may face the policy evaluator, including involvement of stakeholders, the sensitivities between them, the "a priori" assessment of the evaluability of a field, the maximization of the utilization of the evaluations' outcomes, and much more. Throughout, the theory is illustrated with practical examples from around the world-all together making this the essential companion guide for anyone tasked with ensuring that environmentalpolicy fulfils its aims and achieves its potential.

This book presents fresh analyses of a number of well-known cases, but does so from one comprehensive view, the so-called policy arrangement approach. Cases discussed range over organic farming, integrated water management, nature policy, cultural heritage policy, integrated region-oriented policy, corporate environmental management and target group policy, always in search of the commonality of experience and conclusions to be drawn in understanding the past and in formulating future perspectives.

Environmental policy in its broadest context has been significantly renewed during the last two decades. That observation is nothing new, attested to by the number of publications, conferences and both private and public projects that have been initiated. However, our understanding of the dynamics of this renewal has generally been informed by studies on single policies & projects, leaving us with a limited understanding of what the 'newness' consists of in terms of an integrated perspective. This book presents fresh analyses of a number of well-known cases, but does so from one comprehensive view, the so-called policy arrangement approach. Cases discussed range over organic farming, integrated water management, nature policy, cultural heritage policy, integrated region-oriented policy, and corporate environmental management, always in search of the commonality of experience and conclusions to be drawn in understanding the past and in formulating future perspectives.