Tuesday, June 19– Ecological Performance, How can we set ambitious goals and track progress?

Widespread debate exists whether performance-based policies are a way around the law or a faster way to achieve results.  In a day-long workshop, non-government interests met to discuss where the current system is failing to achieve adequate results, why it falls short and whether performance-based policies could get us to where we need to go.

Presenter: Eric Uram is principal for Headwater Consulting in Madison, WI and member of Sierra Club’s National Environmental Quality Strategy Team.  He will present the results from the workshop, and start the process for further consensus-building among NGOs on the findings.

Environmentalists’ Case for Performance– Based Policy

Europe and Environmental Policy, Innovative environmental governance and regulation in the European Union: Any Lessons for US?

Innovative environmental governance and regulation in the EU

How can the United States and the European union find solutions to environmental problems which also promote the economy?  The University of Wisconsin-Madison European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE), Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE) and the La Follette School of Public Affairs have brought in seven Europeans with expertise in creating and using new policies to meet 21st century environmental and economic challenges.  The experts from business, government, non-government and academic sectors will cover a range of topics including river protection, efficient permitting, product stewardship, chemical use and environmental-business cooperation.

The Europe sessions are designed to useful to those who make, implement and are subject to policy.  There will be ample time for questions and discussion.  Participation will be limited to 150 on first-come, first-serve basis to the sessions below.

Environmental innovation in practice

Concluding Roundtable

Environmental innovation in practice

The context will be given, background provided and the stage set for policy overviews.

Presenters: Jonathan Zeitlin is the director of both the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy and the European Center of Excellence at the UW-Madison.  Ingmar von Homeyer is senior fellow at ECOLOGIC and the Institute for International and European Environmental Policy, Brussels.  Joanne Scott is the director of the Centre for Law and Governance in Europe, University College, London.

Case studies will be presented and discussed.  They are:  Good water status and river basin management through the Water Framework Directive, and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control.

Presenters: Peter Kessler is former director general for Water Management for the German State of Hessen and currently senior policy advisor for ECOLOGIC.  Martin Bigg is head of Industry Regulation, United Kingdom Environmental Agency, London.

Case studies and issues will be presented and discussed.  They are:  Integrated Product Policy; Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH), and business and civil society perspectives.

Presenters: Klaus Koegler is head of Sustainable Production and Consumption Unit, European Commission, Brussels.  Robert Donkers is counselor for environmental affairs of the European Commission Delegation, Washington DC.  Raymond van Ermen is executive director, European Partners for the Environment.  Martina Bianchini is director of government affairs and public policy, Dow Chemical, Europe.

The concluding Roundtable will draw upon the insights and wisdom of experienced environmental policy scholars and practitioners.  Their remarks and the ensuing discussion will provide ideas that can be taken home for immediate consideration, questions to be researched or discussed on The Path to Washington and principles for consideration in the Report to the Nation in 2009.

Presenters: Graham Wilson (moderator) is a chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Wisconsin– Madison and a faculty member at the Rober M. La Follette School of Public Affairs.  Rick Otis is the deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.  Linda Bochert is a partner in the law firm of Michael Best and Friederich, Madison, WI and a member of the Green Tier Advisory Committee of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.  Jeff C. Muffat* is manager of environmental regulatory affairs, Environmental Health and Safety Operations, 3M, St. Paul MN.

Planning for Climate Change Workshop: Adapting in your life, home and community

Climate change happens on a global scale but the impacts on natural systems and related human socio-economic systems are felt locally.  So how can we learn to recognize the impacts of these changes locally and respond pragmatically?

In 2006, attendees at the MSWG annual workshop in Utah heard from The University of Washington’s Climate Impact Group.  It will return by popular demand.  The Climate Impacts Group has been in the national forefront with its work in identifying how the Pacific Northwest’s natural resources, economies and communities will be affected by climate change.  It also is recognized for pioneering efforts to identify regional adaptive strategies to manage risks.  Its work is called climate science in the public interest and its practical advice is applicable far beyond the Pacific Northwest.

The Climate Change Workshop will provide advice on how to identify climate change’s impact and the options you have to cope with that change.  Examples will be shared from work in King County, Washington (Seattle), developed with ICLEI, Local Governments for Sustainability.  There will be breakout groups to allow for a focused look at lessons learned and steps to take.

This workshop is designed to help businesses, property owners, municipalities and others how to protect and reduce the risk for thir, neighborhoods and communities.

 This Climate change workshop is open to all attendees of MSWG workshop without extra charge.  A one-day admission to the Climate Change Workshop alone will be available.

Presenters: Laura Whitley Binder is outreach specialists Climate Impacts Group, University  of Washington, Seattle, WA.  Amy Snover* is a professor and principal research scientist and assistant director for the Center for Science in the Earth System.  University of Washington.  Present will be representatives of King County, Washington.  Michelle Wyman* is executive director of ICLEI, Local  Governments for Sustainability.

Cultural roots of sustainable forestry

Scandinavians see the forests in ways that affect not only their way of life and but perhaps even give reason for living.  The cultural roots of sustainable forestry in Scandinavia run deep.  They affect the policies and practices of government, business and non-government organizations.  This affects how trees are managed, how government regulates the forest products industry and how people talk to each other.  In 2005, a MSWG-Harvard University dialogue concluded that law, culture and politics are barriers to environmental innovation, performance systems and sustainable thinking in America.  Exploring the cultural roots of sustainable forestry in Scandinavia may offer ways to see our culture in a different light.

Presenters: Allison Hellman is a policy analyst for the Division of Forestry in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison WI.  Others from Scandinavia will present.

Trans-Atlantic cooperation: Infrastructure needed

Numerous states and cities have learning alliances, agreements and partnerships in their search for better policies and practices to protect the environment.  These arrangements often begin with a splash and involve one or two trips “over there.”  Then they die slow deaths as the realities of workload, limited funding and employee translations take hold.  The record of agreements on environmental matters is impressive between Europe and the United States.  But relationships and lessons fade here, too, in spite of good intentions.  Studies have looked at these agreements and produced ideas on how to keep the learning alive.  Are there next step that the fit into The Path to Washington?  Is there a message for the Report to the Nation?

Presenters: Allison Hellman is program manager for Europe and the Middle East for the Office of International Affairs at the US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC R. Andreas Kraemer is the managing director of the Ecologic Institute for International and European Environmental Policy, Berlin, Germany.  Matthew Collins is with Inter-green, Minneapolis, MN.

Trans-boundary partnership in contiguous regions

The challenges of trans-boundary environmental protection and resource management are difficult under most circumstances.  Community to community tensions, state to state disagreements, general to state disputes are common day issues.  This session looks at the challenges of nation-to-nation challenges in contiguous regions that sometimes are the size of states but are really autonomous countries.  The venue is Russia and its Europe-Asian neighboring countries and regions.  Are there lessons here for state to state cooperation in a federal system? 

Presenter: Boris Krasnopolski is deputy director of economic research at the Russian Academy of Sciences and professor of environmental management at the Russian Academy of Public Administration, Moscow, Russia.

A viable alternative: The Environmental Results Program

“Environmental Results Program” or ERP is an innovative tool used by several states in various sectors as an alternative to conventional permitting and/or inspection programs.  ERP uses education, self-assessment, self-certification, a statistical approach to auditing compliance and the accuracy of self-certifications, and based on those audits, statistical analysis of compliance rates and performance by facility or across a sector.  ERP is typically used in sectors with large numbers of smaller facilities or operations, allowing states to promote performance improvement in a cost-effective way that would be impossible through conventional tools.  State ERP programs may be voluntary of mandatory.  Given the growing experience with the ERP tools, what lessons can The Path to Washington learn: in cost-effectiveness, in promoting performance improvement in a multi-media way, in analyzing performance based on environmental data and statistics vs. rotations or schedules?

Presenter: Al Innes is the regulatory innovation coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Paul, MN

Ecological value of working lands

No matter where you are in the world, working lands that produce commodities such as meat, grain, timber, fruits and vegetables are being looked at for their ecological as well as commodity value.  In the United States words like eco-system services and natural capital are increasingly used when looking at land and show it can protect drinking water, reduce flood damage or even compensate for carbon emissions.  Research and ideas from “down under” may have value for private land owners, farmers, forest land owners, ranchers, local officials, state authorities and even national policy makers in the United States.

Presenter: Genevieve Carruthers is an environmental systems specialist with the Wollongbar Agricultural Institute in Wollongbar, New South Wales, Australia.

Stormwater Management as a policy innovation driver

Requirements to meet water quality standards by controlling stormwater runoff face communities across the United States.  These communities also face trillions of dollars of costs to replace an aging water infrastructure.  The system was largely built in different times when energy costs were low, water perceived to be abundant, local governments not as financially pressed as now and we knew less about nature’s eco-system services.  So as local governments face their stormwater future, can they look elsewhere for cost-effective and ecologically sound ways to meet the water quality requirements and cost constraints?

Presenters: Dr. Eng. Martin Grambow is the head of the Division of Water Management for the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection, Munich, Germany.  Jay Benforado is the director of the National Center for Environmental Innovation at the US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.  Dale Medearis is a program manager for Europe and the Middle East for the Office of International Affairs at the US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

EU Breakout Sessions

Morning Breakout Sessions