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Environmental Policy Forum

Executive Summary

Part I, June 5, 2000, UW- Stevens Point

Working Sessions:  June 27 and July 25, 2000, The Pyle Center, Madison

Part II, September 14, 2000, The Edgewater, Madison

 

The Environmental Policy Forum is a series of events designed to bring together a large group of stakeholders, representing all sectors and viewpoints, to work toward more effective environmental policy in Wisconsin.  The events focus on creating a process by which the many diverse groups in Wisconsin can better communicate their interests and improve environmental policy-making through collaboration and consensus-building initiatives.  WEI is pleased to present to you a summary of Parts I and II of the Environmental Policy Forum and two working sessions.

The Environmental Policy Forum drew participation from over 50 key stakeholders and leaders representing business, state and local government, non-profit environmental organizations, and academia.  The purpose of the Forum event series was to:

1.      Review the current state of environmental policy-making in Wisconsin and identify positive and negative aspects of the system.

2.      Critique a proposed mechanism for improving environmental policy-making in Wisconsin, one that produces effective policies that reflect multiple stakeholder interests and citizen participation.

3.      To create an action plan for implementing the discussed improvements in the policy-making system.

 Part I:  June 5, 2000, Stevens Point, WI

More details about Part I

Opening remarks by John Imes, Executive Director of WEI, Secretary George Meyer of the WI Department of Natural Resources, and Secretary Ben Brancel of the WI Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection focused on the reasons for convening the Environmental Policy Forum and the importance of consensus-building among diverse stakeholders in inclusive, effective policy development.

Following the opening remarks, a panel of Steering Committee members, including Jerry Deschane, WI Builders Association, Keith Reopelle, Wisconsin’s Environmental Decade,  Joe Greco, Village of Menomonee Falls,  Ron Baba, UW-Green Bay, and Linda Bochert, Michael, Best & Friedrich, addressed the question, "What is and is not working in Wisconsin's policy-making system?"  Each panel member described individual experiences with environmental policy issues that have shaped their perspectives of the system.  All participants had an opportunity to respond to the same question in the first session of small group discussions.  The panel members and other Forum participants agreed on these key points:

1. There is a lack of trust and communication among different stakeholders.

2. A lack of accurate, unbiased information hinders effective policy development.

3. The policy-making system needs to incorporate strong incentives for people to reach consensus on particular issues.

4. Collaboration and consensus-building can produce more effective environmental policies by helping stakeholders recognize common goals and interests.

In his keynote address, John Ehrmann, Ph.D., Meridian Institute, speaking from his over 20 years of experience in collaborative processes, introduced the principles and characteristics of consensus-based approaches and creative problem-solving.  He stressed that it is not possible to find consensus;  people must work hard to build it.  This idea and others he presented set the tone for the afternoon sessions, which focused on designing a consensus-based mechanism for improving Wisconsin's system of environmental policy development.  

Working Sessions:  June 27 and July 25, 2000, Madison, WI

The two working sessions brought together a diverse group of Forum participants to build and refine the mechanisms that were developed in Part One.  The ideas that resulted from these discussions have been shaped by what participants consider to be the fundamental elements of a successful and productive collaborative process:

Strong incentives are necessary for people to give up familiar ways of doing things and invest time and effort in consensus-building.

One possible incentive is an agreement by legislators to hold a public hearing on an issue if consensus is reached.  Other Forum participants believe that the process needs a negative discipline to prevent stakeholders from working around it, such as a refusal by legislators to entertain proposals that have not been through the collaborative process.

Effective policy-making requires formal and informal approaches.

The mechanisms drafted at the Forum integrate formal and informal approaches, allowing enough flexibility to see what works best for different issues and particular groups of stakeholders. Participants have generally agreed that there may be more opportunities for formal approaches once the process gains credibility through informal workings.

This initiative needs to involve and have the support of key stakeholders and decision makers.

More recent discussions, particularly in the two working sessions, have incorporated ideas for strategies to pursue in getting people to participate in and support the process, so that once a mechanism is introduced it has broad support.  Forum participants have also worked to identify important stakeholders that could benefit from participating in a collaborative process.

There needs to be a process for determining which issues to pursue.

Many ideas for narrowing the long list of potential issues have been raised.  One possibility is a “political reality check” from secretaries of state agencies, such as DNR and DATCP, and legislative chairs that would narrow the list to those issues which present solid opportunities for creative policy-making.  Issues could also be narrowed by collecting and comparing the agendas of key interests and stakeholder groups to see where their interests overlap.  Another suggestion involves examining each potential issue according to three factors:  1.  Have the interest groups reached an impasse?, 2.  Is the need for a resolution urgent?, and 3.  Are the parties willing to try a collaborative process and agree to its ground rules?  The combination of impasse, urgency, and willingness to engage in a collaborative process provides an ideal opportunity for applying a new policy-making mechanism.

The process needs to utilize a neutral convener and facilitator.

A neutral convener and facilitator is central to a credible and inclusive collaborative process. 

Participants have also suggested a role for a neutral organization to play in providing a review of the recommendations or other products that result from the process, in order to minimize bias and encourage effective policy development.

Part II:  September 14, 2000, Madison, WI  

More details about Part II

Part I and the two working sessions focused on creating a mechanism for improving the environmental policy-making process in Wisconsin.  The outcome of these sessions was a process for approaching environmental policy issues through collaboration and consensus-building that is intended to result in policy recommendations drafted and supported by a diverse coalition of environmental stakeholders. The objective of Part II was to further refine and validate the mechanism that had been developed in previous sessions and create an action plan for its implementation. In Part II, participants “tested” and evaluated the process to determine its value for addressing specific environmental issues.  They also discussed what elements and characteristics it would need to have in order to get support and involvement from key stakeholders.

In his opening remarks, John Imes, Executive Director of WEI, described what he views as missed opportunities in environmental policy-making.  The Environmental Policy Forum provides a new option for people to get their issue effectively addressed in an open, inclusive process. 

The purpose of testing the mechanism in Part II was to determine its value for addressing a particular environmental issue and begin to outline a strategy for moving the process forward.  Participants working in small groups mainly focused on the parts of the mechanism that deal with how to choose an issue to pursue in a collaborative process and the incentives that are required for getting people to engage in and support the process.  They also discussed who should convene the process or the qualities that a potential convener would need to have, who needs to be involved, and the desired outcomes of the process.  Participants agreed that the process itself is well designed, but they stressed the importance of having adequate time and information, as well as good representation from the various interest groups to produce meaningful outcomes. 

In addition to testing the mechanism, Part II provided an opportunity to gauge the willingness and motivation of Forum participants to move beyond constructing a process and actually start to use it.  We’re pleased to have a committed group of leaders who want to move this process forward and begin applying it to environmental issues facing Wisconsin.  The final discussion explored ways to begin implementing the process by holding an environmental policy summit in 2001.  The next steps of the Environmental Policy Forum will be to further define the summit, build support for it among those involved in environmental policy decisions, and make sure a foundation of solid information and resources is in place.