محیط زیست و توسعه فرابخشی (Jan 2024)
The Investigation of the Evolution of Environmental Statehood Model in Iran
Abstract
The investigation of the causes of the failure of the environmental policies of the state requires first cognition from the evolution of environmental statehood. Ioris (2014) by focusing on the politico-philosophical approaches shows that during the last century, three different environmental statehoods were put in place, encapsulating three characteristic interpretations and reactions to environmental problems, which were under the influence of the political theories of Hobbes, Kant and Hegel. The trend of environmental disruption and institutional reforms shows environmental statehood has the evolution of trend in Iran too. Therefore, the central question here is the evolution trend of environmental statehood of Western countries compatible with Iran's conditions? The answer to this question requires investigation of state reactions to environmental problems. In this regard, the environmental statehood model of Iran was investigated with the use of the methods of qualitative content analysis. It also focuses on the political theory of Ioris (2014). The investigation of the coercive and non-coercive policy in the environmental regulation and legislation show Legislative institutions focus on the coercive policy for environmental protection. Despite the fact that the dominance of coercion policy from in the Iran's Forests act (1942) to Soil Conservation act (2019) shows that the political ideas of Hobbes are dominant in Iran's environmental law. But, legal reforms to solve environmental and water resource problems are associated with the upholding of a specific model of environmental statehood in Iran. In fact, the most obvious features of the conventional model of environmental statehood (environmental impact assessment) and the transition period from conventional to flexible environmental statehood (sustainable development) were introduced to Iran's environmental statehood in the Sazandegi government. In addition, the results show that the state in Iran introduced more flexible approaches into the regulations of water resources without creating a prepared the ground for the transition to a more flexible environmental statehood. Such as increasing the participation of the private sector in the three levels of governance of water resources and development of legal capacity for the acceptance of market-based approaches such as the water bank into the draft of the water law. Also, introducing policy tools of the payment for ecosystem services (PES) and ecosystem services to solve the problems of water resources in watersheds. Therefore, frameworks of the flexible model of environmental statehood exist also in Iran. But, the evolution trend of environmental statehood of Iran is not according to Western countries. The environmental statehood in Iran involves the application of specific forms of market-based interaction of Hegelian state model and command-and-control approaches of conventional model of environmental statehood to the control of water resources. It should be noted that focusing on the frameworks of the features of the conventional model of environmental statehood and flexible environmental statehood cannot solve Iran's environmental problems. Therefore, it is necessary that framework of local environmental statehood be designed for Iran, which focuses on the participation of local groups. By focusing on frameworks of this model can be achieved 1) reducing social inequalities on the scale of watersheds and 2) creating a balance between people's interests in the scale of small watersheds and macro policies in the scale of large watersheds.
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