GEO-6 Regional Asssement for West Asia
• autonomous ministries of the environment or their equivalent, as in Iraq, Jordan Lebanon, Oman and Qatar: with their own technical staff, budget allocation and the mandate to implement action, they are legally empowered with the status of other line ministries, but in practice tend to be politically weaker than economic and sectoral ministries.
• autonomous ministries of the environment with additional responsibilities for sustainable development, as in Oman.
In many countries in West Asia, environmental governance is government-led, centred and regulated and, in most cases, institutions in charge of environmental governance are also assigned the overall responsibility for managing sustainable development, which tends to lessen implementation outcomes (Kanan 2012; UNESCWA 2015a).
These institutions are also less influential in governmental decision-making processes than other ministries, notably those in charge of the economy, finance, social, and more political or parliamentary issues, and so greater high-level commitment is needed to implement environmental policies and strategies. In some cases, environmental programmes become highly dependent on financial and technical support from international development agencies, which is an
Case study Box 1.3.1: The Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment
Within the framework of the League of Arab States, CAMRE was established as a high-level institution to ensure the proper coordination of environmental policies in the Arab region, which includes all the countries of the West Asia region. CAMRE aims to identify major environmental problems, set priorities and address issues related to a sustainable environment. CAMRE has played, and continues to play, a major role in the coordination of environmental policies of the Arab countries at regional and global levels and has ensured a certain level of replication of environmental policies among West Asian countries. In addition, CAMRE ensures that all League of Arab States institutions address environmental issues in a comprehensive and harmonized manner.
Source: UNEP 2012 30
indicator of a lack of willingness or resources on the part of national governments to allocate appropriate resources and commitment to environmental issues.
The Lebanese Ministry of Environment, for example, has conducted a diagnosis of the status of national environmental legislation, and found that from 1993 to 2014 about 20 laws promoting environmental sustainability were adopted. Some of these laws and decrees, however, have yet to be enacted. The diagnosis also found that its institutional capacity to monitor and enforce most environmental laws remains weak (El-Baba 2015).
Jordan is also noted for its numerous laws related to environmental management and protection. These are not limited to environmental institutions and instruments, but are included in other sectoral plans and legislation such as those on agriculture, energy, health and water. The multiplicity of these plans and legislation, the high number of responsible actors and the dispersion of functions across various institutions render the environmental governance relatively weak. However, civil society plays an important role in monitoring the environment (World Bank 2009).
Yemen has enacted various laws and set up a related institutional framework to enhance environmental
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