Implementation of Environmental Policies in Developing Countries

Environmental policy implementation in developing countries faces a number of institutional obstacles. Using the case of protected areas and tourism development in the state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira explores how economic development interests tend to have a higher priority on most governments' agendas in developing countries. Government agencies often fail to implement environmental protection policies mainly because they lack political support, have insufficient resources, have underdeveloped institutional capacity, and tend to overlook the importance of cooperation at the local level. Puppim de Oliveira explains how this trend may be reversed by decentralizing policy implementation into the hands of development-oriented agencies. To make the process work, central authorities should offer incentives to ensure increased attention to environmental protection objectives in the development process. At the same time, an independent body with oversight authority should be in place to prevent development agencies from neglecting environmental concerns.