Comments on: The Basics I: Open Wide and Say “Ah….” http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/environmental-protection/the-basics-i-open-wide-and-say-ah/ Musings about the Evolution of Consumer, Environmental & Health Policy in Latin America & the Caribbean Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:29:31 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Keith R http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/environmental-protection/the-basics-i-open-wide-and-say-ah/comment-page-1/#comment-411 Keith R Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:10:15 +0000 http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=5#comment-411 Dear Frederic, Thanks for the insightful comment. I hope you return and comment often, as this is the kind of feedback and discussion I would love to see more of at the <i>Temas Blog</i>. I wonder, given Eureau's interests, if you might also wish to comment on the entries on the <a href="http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=24" rel="nofollow">MDGs for water and sanitation</a> and <a href="http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=34" rel="nofollow">the Blue Flag certification program</a> (which requires beach communities to improve bathing water quality in order to obtain and maintain certification? On your 2 points: (1) definitely, I am all too aware of the fund limitations in the budgets of environment, health & water authorities in LAC nations, which is why I suggested ways people can help out... The trouble is, in many LAC nations on all too many issues, there is almost no data or the data available reflects the realities of the last time data-gathering was funded -- often as far back as the 1980s or early 1990s, whereas realities on the ground have changed considerably in the interim. Sometimes LAC governments are copying US or European environment/health legislation verbatim, in the process often reflecting North American or European priorities, when a bit of prior analysis of local conditions would suggest useful local variations in policy priorities. As I said in the essay, if your priority is preserving landfill space and local analysis indicates your main problem is C&D waste, then focus on that first. If your priority is reducing litter and your analysis indicates that a certain type of packaging waste is the problem, focus on that... (2) true. I am not a believer in not waiting to act until all uncertainty is removed, since in life there really is no such thing as 100% certainty. Sometimes, as you point out, you have to act on what's available -- assuming, of course, that some useful baseline data is actually available (many times not the case). I like the "interactive" point -- sometimes key data is not available until the process is actually launched. Then the process can be adjusted, redirected and/or retooled based on new and better data. Best Regards, Keith Dear Frederic,
Thanks for the insightful comment. I hope you return and comment often, as this is the kind of feedback and discussion I would love to see more of at the Temas Blog. I wonder, given Eureau’s interests, if you might also wish to comment on the entries on the MDGs for water and sanitation and the Blue Flag certification program (which requires beach communities to improve bathing water quality in order to obtain and maintain certification?

On your 2 points:

(1) definitely, I am all too aware of the fund limitations in the budgets of environment, health & water authorities in LAC nations, which is why I suggested ways people can help out…

The trouble is, in many LAC nations on all too many issues, there is almost no data or the data available reflects the realities of the last time data-gathering was funded — often as far back as the 1980s or early 1990s, whereas realities on the ground have changed considerably in the interim.

Sometimes LAC governments are copying US or European environment/health legislation verbatim, in the process often reflecting North American or European priorities, when a bit of prior analysis of local conditions would suggest useful local variations in policy priorities. As I said in the essay, if your priority is preserving landfill space and local analysis indicates your main problem is C&D waste, then focus on that first. If your priority is reducing litter and your analysis indicates that a certain type of packaging waste is the problem, focus on that…

(2) true. I am not a believer in not waiting to act until all uncertainty is removed, since in life there really is no such thing as 100% certainty. Sometimes, as you point out, you have to act on what’s available — assuming, of course, that some useful baseline data is actually available (many times not the case).

I like the “interactive” point — sometimes key data is not available until the process is actually launched. Then the process can be adjusted, redirected and/or retooled based on new and better data.

Best Regards,
Keith

]]> By: Frederic de Hemptinne http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/environmental-protection/the-basics-i-open-wide-and-say-ah/comment-page-1/#comment-408 Frederic de Hemptinne Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:16:45 +0000 http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/?p=5#comment-408 I totally agree with you. Here in Europe, we say that a good start is half of the work done. Clearly to design a sound strategy (instead of only focussing on technical equipment), you need to rely on good data. Nevertheless, I would like to stress 2 points: 1) Data collection comes at a certain costs. It is an investment that must be carefully planned. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive requests us to reach good ecological quality but this concept of ecological quality is rather vague and dogmatic. This generates a waste of valuable resources. 2) We have to live with uncertainty and lack of data. If we insist too much on this, it can be counterproductive because of political arguments and stakeholders’ conflicts (especially if somebody has to pay). I prefer very much an iterative process starting with is available and engaging rapidly into action plan that will include a data collection component for upcoming revision. I totally agree with you. Here in Europe, we say that a good start is half of the work done. Clearly to design a sound strategy (instead of only focussing on technical equipment), you need to rely on good data.

Nevertheless, I would like to stress 2 points:
1) Data collection comes at a certain costs. It is an investment that must be carefully planned. In Europe, the Water Framework Directive requests us to reach good ecological quality but this concept of ecological quality is rather vague and dogmatic. This generates a waste of valuable resources.
2) We have to live with uncertainty and lack of data. If we insist too much on this, it can be counterproductive because of political arguments and stakeholders’ conflicts (especially if somebody has to pay). I prefer very much an iterative process starting with is available and engaging rapidly into action plan that will include a data collection component for upcoming revision.

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