Policy options: regional summary

The document identifies freshwater, climate change, and environmental governance as universal priorities across regions. It highlights that successful policies—such as the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and integrated water resources management—rely on robust governance structures, multi-stakeholder participation, and the addressing of underlying drivers of degradation. The text emphasizes the importance of transboundary cooperation and the potential for successful policies to leverage societal transformation toward sustainable development objectives.

• Freshwater, climate change, and environmental governance are identified as priorities across all regions, with climate change specifically noted for putting extreme pressure on ecological systems and exacerbating water supply and demand issues.
• Common successful policy tools used across multiple regions include carbon taxes, the removal of environmentally harmful subsidies (particularly on fossil fuels), renewable energy, marine protected areas, integrated water resources and coastal zone management, and cross-boundary biodiversity conservation.
• Effective implementation of environmental policies requires a foundation of formal, robust, and well-established governance mechanisms at all levels, as well as principles such as multi-stakeholder participation, investment in monitoring and evaluation, and addressing the drivers of environmental degradation.
• Transboundary cooperation is essential for shared natural areas to facilitate knowledge transfer and collective responses to common problems.
• Reversing environmental degradation requires improved governance characterized by legal frameworks, financial sustainability, institutional capacity, and community leadership, such as wetland management schemes or water maintenance trust funds.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2012). Policy options: regional summary. https://www.sei.org/publications/geo-5-chapter-15-policy-options-regional-summary/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Policy options: regional summary. 2012. https://www.sei.org/publications/geo-5-chapter-15-policy-options-regional-summary/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Policy options: regional summary |date=6 June 2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/geo-5-chapter-15-policy-options-regional-summary/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2012policy, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Policy options: regional summary}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2012}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/geo-5-chapter-15-policy-options-regional-summary/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }