to manage it well. In the case of agriculture, an absence or weakness of legal rights over a piece of land gives farmers little reason to manage it for the long term (Goldstein and Udry 2008). Access rights can also have important effects on the management of a resource: there is little incentive for individual actors to make sustainable use of fisheries and water resources, for example, when they know that other users may simply increase their own appropriations. This is the classic tragedy of the commons problem, and it can lead to degradation of the ecosystems, which are the basis of much economic activity and well-being, especially in developing countries and among the world’s poor (Nellemann et al. 2009).
In addition to strong property laws that promote sustainable resource management, zoning regulations can be crucial in coordinating and integrating green infrastructure investments. While zoning regulations have long been used in developed countries, they remain a relatively underused policy tool in developing countries. Establishing strong zoning regulations, therefore, presents developing countries with the opportunity to establish clear geographical limits around cities to restrict urban sprawl. Well-designed zoning regulations can also be instrumental to create green corridors that protect ecosystems or to prioritise the development of the poorest areas of a city in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Property laws and zoning regulations are politically challenging to establish and change. The legal provision of rights also requires substantial administrative and judicial capacity, sometimes requiring modern technologies to enforce. These political and institutional challenges can come up against an additional layer of complexity when national legislation overlaps with international legislation, as in the case of transboundary fish stocks and cross- border water sources.
Negotiated and voluntary agreements Not all rules and regulations are created by legislation; exceptions include negotiated and voluntary agreements, and industry self-regulation.
The risk of regulating via negotiated and voluntary agreements is that they can result in unambitious targets that would be achieved anyway, and some research has questioned their environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency, especially where government involvement is low (OECD 2003b). Nonetheless, a number of such agreements, such as Indonesia’s Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation and Rating (PROPER), show that in the appropriate circumstances they can deliver significant environmental benefits (Blackman 2007). In the end, they are not a substitute for government regulatory capacity, since without the credible threat of regulation as a fall-back option there is little incentive to comply with voluntary approaches, and they still require government capacity to assess their effectiveness against their objectives.
Information-based tools The sector chapters in this report also identify a wide number of information-based tools that can be used to help promote a green economy. Awareness campaigns, for example, can raise general understanding about a particular issue and can be important in pushing through difficult political solutions. They can be government-led, as in the case of independent commissions to research and raise awareness about a given issue, or NGO initiatives like the Greenpeace Stop Climate Change campaign (Green Fiscal Commission n.d.; Ranjan 2009; Greenpeace n.d.). Information programmes can teach people basic skills as well, and promote behaviour that reinforces green economy objectives.
These measures are
established by governments negotiating with firms, or by one or more firms taking voluntary action themselves, and usually consist of non-binding commitments to certain standards or principles. They can be a useful complement to government rules and regulations as they take away some of the burden of information and administrative costs from government authorities. Moreover, they can be in the interest of businesses if they involve cost-savings (eco-efficiency) or create positive branding. First-mover advantage, and potentially lower legal and regulatory risks, may also motivate industry participants to enter into voluntary agreements or set up a voluntary regulation (Williams 2004).
Governments might also introduce regulations to make the provision of certain information mandatory, to enable consumers and investors to more effectively assess the sustainability performance of firms, including their ecological and carbon footprints (see Finance chapter for further detail.) There are also examples of voluntary certification and labelling that have become an industry norm on their own merits before being made a legal requirement, such as the City of Vancouver’s energy and emissions targets for buildings (Coleman and Stefan 2009). Moreover, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes and tools have become commonplace in many companies and are influencing the ways in which these companies and their suppliers conduct business. (See Box 9)
2.5 Strengthening international governance
In addition to national laws, there are also a number of international and multilateral mechanisms that regulate economic activity. The following section
those mechanisms that can play an important role in a transition to a green economy.