Towards Improved Governance:

At the core of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy lies a set of structural reforms needed to improve the quality of governance in the province and to strengthen the ability of various agencies to operate in a manner which promotes sustainable development. These improvements address a number of problems that currently impede the government's efficiency. Many of these are remnants of the colonial legacy of South Asia. A major effort is needed to affect change.

A number of these ideas came from people at the district public meetings and from Government officials. Some of these individuals had never heard the term "sustainable development'. But they implicitly knew what it meant, and that it was not being achieved. They wished to see a mandate for change adopted by the Government. That would include:

• potential reorganization of the Government's environmental responsibilities;
• strengthening of the Planning, Environment and Development Department and the Environmental Protection Agency;
• policy and programme reform;
• law reform;
• privatization, incentives and partnership; . strategic planning processes;
• environmental planning processes;
• environmental impact assessment processes;
• state of environment reporting;
• environmental research; and
• other institution-strengthening initiatives.

One Fundamental problem is a generally acknowledged difficulty with administrative accountability. The Rules of Business that define the organization of Government and departmental responsibilities are outdated and inflexible. The institutional structure in Government is highly bureaucratic, and individuals are trained to adhere strictly to these procedures. Combined with the generally low rates of remuneration, there is little incentive for flexibility or creativity. Training in newly emerging fields, particularly multidisciplinary ones such as environmental management, is weak.

Although the NWFP Government has set up the Environment Section and the Environment Wing in the Planning, Environment and Development (PE&D) Department, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), significant environ- mental and natural resource management responsibilities are distributed among other government departments such as Forests, Physical Planning and Housing, Public Health Engineering and some others. These, too, need attention. There are problems of coordination amongst these departments partly due to the inflexibility of their respective mandates and very limited financial resources.

The case of the EPA is a special one because its mandate comes from Federal Government instructions that are outdated and from an unenforceable piece of legislation, the Environmental Protection Ordinance, 1983. Hence the EPA is not able to do its primary work, that of enforcing certain standards. It can do little more than public relations exercises, which it does well, and some environ- mental research. But the EPA has little equipment, few people and almost no budget.

Linked to the problem of administrative accountability and the organization of Government is the problem of outdated legislation and legislative gaps, particularly in environmental sectors. There is also a lack of respect for the law among the population in general, a lack of knowledge about existing civil rights, and a problem with enforceability. And there are problems related to corruption.

A tendency to create tough new laws followed by draconian enforcement techniques has led to failure in the past. It will be better to produce laws that balance incentives and partnerships with sanctions and penalties. It is also important to take measures to involve and educate people about the purpose and objectives of the statutes and to provide sufficient time for public aware- ness programmes to take place.

Decentralization of planning was an important theme that emerged from the public consultation process. In most district-level meetings, even with high participation by public servants, the organized village welfare organizations were not afraid to speak clearly. They felt local priorities were not being listened to by the planners. This concern varied from district to district, but in general the farther the district was from Peshawar, the greater the sense of alienation. District-level planning teams were suggested as a means for people to determine the development priorities for their district.

There was a related theme, for the 'privatization' of certain Government functions, to help communities break out of the cycle of dependence on Government planning, resources and welfare. This was accompanied by often spontaneous statements of a need for greater direct democracy at the district level.

Finally, a number of institution-strengthening projects were proposed, in addition to those already under way.

These are the general issues and problems facing the people of the NWFP. Initiating change in this 'culture' will take much time and effort. But improved and more responsible governance lies at the very heart of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy.

<< back