Interactions

The Environmental Economics Unit (EEU) has for a long time conducted research on environmental economics policy instruments at the national level. A set of activities are carried out by Sida’s External Expert Advice for Environmental Economics to strengthen links to planners and policy makers in order to improve planning and decision making. The most prominent ones include formulation of researched-based policy briefs at the country level (and occasionally at sectoral or thematic levels), on-the-job trainings, research dissemination including individualized contacts and expert advice, conducting workshops, and writing commissioned reports.

The following is an example of how research can influence policy:

At Sida’s request, EEU participated as a resource institution, along with individual experts in OECD DAC’s working group, on developing guidelines for Environmental Fiscal Reform (EFR) within development cooperation.

EFR uses taxes, fees, subsidies, and levies as  means to protect the environment, raise revenues, and free up financial resources that can be allocated to poverty reduction efforts and other development expenditures.

After some deliberation and labor division, the work resulted in general methodology development and formulation of an OECD-wide publication: "Guidelines for Environmental Fiscal Reform for Poverty Reduction" (2005), which has triggered some practical work in this area and provided practical guidance to a large group of development cooperation partners in this subject matter. More information can be found at the following website: www.oecd.org/dac/.