Setting rational environmental goals: Five Swedish environmental quality objectives

Goals and performance targets are commonly used as tools in the policy-implementation process. In Sweden, environmental policy is operationalized through a system of environmental quality objectives that were adopted by the Swedish Riksdag in the late 1990s. The objectives describe what level of env...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of environmental planning and management Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 297 - 316
Main Author Edvardsson, Karin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.03.2007
Taylor and Francis Journals
Taylor & Francis Ltd
SeriesJournal of Environmental Planning and Management
Subjects
Acidification
Archipelagoes
Built environment
Coastal environments
Coastal zone
Criteria
Decision making
Environmental assessment
Environmental management
Environmental objective
Environmental planning
Environmental policy
Environmental quality
Filosofiämnen
Goal setting
Historisk-filosofiska ämnen
History and philosophy subjects
HUMANIORA och RELIGIONSVETENSKAP
HUMANITIES and RELIGION
Implementation
Landscape
Marine environment
Objectives
Philosophy subjects
Policy implementation
Rationality
Studies
Sweden
Urban environments
Sweden
ANE, Sweden
POLICY
VALUES
MANAGEMENT
STABILITY
BALANCE
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Summary:Goals and performance targets are commonly used as tools in the policy-implementation process. In Sweden, environmental policy is operationalized through a system of environmental quality objectives that were adopted by the Swedish Riksdag in the late 1990s. The objectives describe what level of environmental quality Sweden should aim for within a generation, and are designed to guide decision making in all sectors of society. However, to guide decision making toward improved environmental quality, these objectives should satisfy a set of rationality (functionality) criteria; they should be precise, evaluable, approachable, motivating and coherent. In this paper, five Swedish environmental quality objectives are investigated through an application of the suggested criteria: (1) a balanced marine environment, flourishing coastal areas and archipelagos; (2) a magnificent mountain landscape; (3) a non-toxic environment; (4) natural acidification only; and (5) a good built environment. The aim of the paper is to bring the rationality of the objectives up for discussion, and to illustrate the range of issues and difficulties that are involved in choosing and assessing environmental policy goals.
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ISSN:0964-0568
1360-0559
1360-0559
DOI:10.1080/09640560601156540