The means, motive and opportunity of devolved policy responses to an ecosystem approach
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The means, motive and opportunity of devolved policy responses to an ecosystem approach Nick Kirsop‑Taylor1
© Springer Nature Limited 2019
Abstract The ‘environment’ is a fully devolved concern in UK governance, though the comparative dynamics of devolved environmental governance remain poorly understood. The potential for the repatriation of significant environmental powers from the EU to devolved administrations through Brexit means that the nature of devolved environmental policy-making is increasingly coming under the spotlight. This paper enhances collective understanding about the nature of devolved environmental government and governance by adopting a comparative approach across the devolved nations of the UK. Based upon interviews and policy publications it analyses a number of key policy-making and institutional variables in relation to responses to an international environmental regime. In both Wales and Scotland evidence was found of environmental policy-making, policy-innovation and institution-building that diverged from the UK. Wales, in particular, evidenced how ‘the environment’ appears to be seen as a dynamic space for policy and institutional innovation. These findings highlight how the devolved-scale of governance might be particularly fruitful for environmental policy-innovation when the means, motive and opportunity are evident. It also highlights how key conditions are evident to ensure that devolved agencies may be empowered to undertake radically divergent approaches and programmes. Keywords Environment · Brexit · Devolution · Natural Resources Wales
Introduction Under the UK’s current devolutionary settlement concern for managing and protecting the natural environment is devolved to the governments in Cardiff, Holyrood and Stormont. The near hegemonic nature of EU environmental directives and policymaking has meant that the principal focus of scholarly interests during the period * Nick Kirsop‑Taylor N.A.Kirsop‑[email protected] 1
The Department of Politics, University of Exeter (Cornwall), Penryn, Cornwall, UK Vol.:(0123456789)
N. Kirsop‑Taylor
of the UK’s membership of the EU has been on how these have exerted influence on UK environmental policy (Hanf and Jansen 1997; Burns et al. 2016). This has largely been to the detriment of scholarly activities investigating devolved environmental policy-making and policy-makers (e.g. Gibbs and Jonas 2001; Gibbs et al. 2002). Birrell (2012) has argued that devolved policy-making and institution-building including on environmental concerns is driven by the asymmetry of the different devolved nations relative to the UK. Whereas once devolution was seen an opportunity for policy and institutional experimentation based on the critical differentiation brought on by this asymmetry, this has now been followed by uncertainty, policycopying and a stymieing of policy-innovation in the devolved nations (Birrell 2012). Other scholars have argued that this situation is more complicated than suggested by Birrell (2012), and that devolved policy-maki
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