Environmental Governance In The Horn Of Africa:Analysis Of The Regional And National Institutions Policies And Programs

The processes of pursuing environmental governance at the horn of Africa have been influenced by the fact that there are weak institutional policies and a lack of enforcing norms.In the lack of such pro-active institutional systems,therefore,the processes and arrangement of environmental governance failed.Consequently,the current trends and arrangements reflect the international,regional,and national institutions' cooperation that has been facing challenges too.The failures of institutions' efforts are due to the complexity of systems to address environmental challenges that demand regional and domestic actions.Hence,the programs and strategies for environmental protection from pollution have failed in the horn of Africa region and its member countries.Thus,the region faces serious challenges in implementing environmental governance principles.Driving factors are inadequate institutional interactions,lack of binding and enforcing mechanisms,weak capacity of governance,and inadequate decision-making processes.To address these issues,the regional and national government leaders have been attempting to develop environmental policies,norms,programs,and management systems.Based on these facts,this study specifically aimed to examine inconsistencies in institutions during the implementation of environmental governance.This study pursued and considered the three-level analysis(national,international,and regional)institutional policies,programs,and values.The policies and programs are tools for facilitating environmental governance issues and but this study contends the tools are not effective.The main research question is,"Why are institutions ineffective in tackling environmental governance,particularly policies and norms in the horn of Africa?" Preliminary research and reviews of related literature have revealed the role of the institutions.The reason for the lack of effectiveness of institutions' tools is mainly related to the weak cooperation strategies,weak interactions among institutions,and a lack of imposing policies,programs,and norms.As a background to the understanding of dissertations,the literature reviewed three case study countries and showed that environmental governance and institutional systems have been not promoted.The case studies are based on Ethiopia,Somalia,and Djibouti.We tried to examine the roles in addressing environmental governance by focusing on the efforts of national,international,and regional institutions' policies.Each of the case study countries has different efforts and different results of both institutional successes and failures.First,in the review literature,we evaluated factors related to institutional policies and programs.The deficiency of binding norms and weak policies,lack of enforcement mechanisms,commitment problems of political leaders,and lack of internal instability in countries are critical.Institutions have been striving to be rules-based and policy-based,but the understanding and reasons behind the implementation of policies are missing.The national government and international and regional institutions are failing to establish proactive systems of cooperation.Environmental norms and institutional frameworks are not effective in addressing the issues.After an in-depth exploration of these ideas,the dissertation is divided into seven chapters.Chapter one of this dissertation discussed the background of the research as an introductory part and includes the problems of statements,research questions,main arguments,and methodology.Keeping the objective in mind,attention has been paid to the literature review during the discussion.It also indicates why the theoretical frameworks have been chosen,the overall organization,and the scope and gaps of the study.Similarly,the countries selected for study are highlighted and an overview of environmental institutional interactions analysis has been provided.The second chapter of this dissertation is devoted to the inquiry of the theoretical foundations based on the international and regional institutions and their international relations contexts.The study adopts constructivist institutionalism theory as a basis for understanding inconsistency and environmental policy issues in the horn of African countries.Based on Colin Hay's concept of constructivist institutionalism theory and we tried to explore the implications of the interaction and effectiveness of institutional policies,and values.In international relations disciplines,values and institutional norms are influencing tools of governance.National governments exercise power over institutions to promote interests at the national,and regional levels and they need policies and programs integrations.Thus,it indicates that environmental governance and institutional policies have had a great impact on the processes of capacity building and implementation.Institutionalism according to the constructivist is a system of cognitive,evaluative,and emotional orientation towards the principles,norms,and policies.This can touch institutions since the assessment of challenges reflects their international behavior and interactions with other institutions.The interdisciplinary meaning created through these interactions established a meaningful context for defining national,regional,and international institutions' relationships.The efforts and international concerns in which institutions operate exert a decisive influence on their actions towards environmental matters.It emphasizes the impacts of socialization in accounting for their international and regional cooperation actions and explores the nature of institutional interactions.In general,the chapter examined the roles,efforts,and interactions of institutional policies,norms,and programs in addressing environmental governance and their interactions within and with other institutions based on constructivist institutional theory frameworks.Furthermore,institutional policies are basic and formal structures,in the same manner,constructivist institutionalism refers to norms and ideas that can influence interactions.Hence,it is vital to comprehend the role of institutional norms and their effectiveness in addressing environmental governance.From these concepts,we determined that institutions have an imperative role in environmental issues in the horn of Africa.The core point is that the relevance of socially constructed forms of institutionalization of norms,policies,and values are significant to addressing environmental governance but,in the regions,institutions have been playing inconsistent roles.The implementation of environmental governance policies has failed.The third chapter briefly examined the environmental challenges and the governance matters and attempts to observe the critical drivers of institutions.The study has made an effort to point out environmental challenges and their causes and effects and examined why regional and international institutional systems face challenges in addressing critical issues in the horn of Africa.After reviewing institutional issues,and environmental challenges,identified problems related to implementing policies,norms,and programs.The finding indicates that the region's environmental challenges are mainly related to coastal pollution,industrial waste pollution and urban manufacturing processes,degradation and drought,waste disposal,and contamination of water resources.These factors become serious and affect human health and the environment itself.Exploring the factors intensively,the dissertation finds that the national,international,and regional institutions particularly,the African Union(AU),Inter-Governmental Authority for Development(IGAD),United Nations(UNEP),and its affiliated international Nongovernmental Organizations(INGOs),and domestic governments of national institutions face challenges in addressing environmental issues.The fourth,fifth,and sixth chapters briefly examine the efforts of national,international,and regional institutions' roles in addressing environmental governance in the case studies countries,particularly Ethiopia,Somalia,and Djibouti.The case study is carried out based on the institutional factors toward environmental governance.Similarly,the first case study which is explored in chapter four is about Ethiopia,the second case study which is explored in chapter five is about Somalia and the third case study which is explored in chapter six is about Djibouti.All the case study chapters examined the efforts of institutions and their challenges.The main study variables are the institutional policies,norms and the interactions between the programs of each country and its institutes.All case study chapters examined the effectiveness of institutional policies and interactions in addressing environmental governance.The finding indicates that institutions are less effective to address environmental matters.Chapter seven provides the conclusions,findings,and results of the study.It is divided into four subsections: introduction,summary of finding,conclusions,and recommendation.Discourse analysis proves the claim that international and regional institutional policies and norms face challenges.About this trend,the role of institutions is often ignored and environmental priorities in the overall socio-economic planning are poorly addressed.As a result,the obstacles for the governments of Ethiopia,Somalia,and Djibouti are a lack of effective corporate strategies,a lack of binding norms,and poor policies.Thus,the efforts of the three countries' institutions to address the effects of pollution have been less effective.The results of this study show,that Ethiopia has shown progress in developing political leaders' commitments currently and trying to address environmental governance issues.But for Ethiopia,lack of enforcing mechanisms and lack of capacity building and domestication of technology issues are still critical.The lack of mandatory standards,norms,and resources is also a critical problem in Ethiopia.Government agencies in Somalia and Djibouti have failed to promote institutional policies and standards of the environment.In both Somalia and Djibouti,poor communications,weak programs,lack of norms and enforcing mechanisms,and lack of systems of cooperation are critical matters.All chapters are interoperable and designed to provide comprehensive answers to the main research question.The study uses qualitative and process-oriented analytical research design to examine institutional policies,values,and norms.To achieve the objectives of the study,three case studies countries were selected: to understand corporate policies and values.case cases study countries offer accounts as to why policies,norms,values,and programs were inconsistent in the implementation of environmental governance mechanisms.The cases also demonstrate why the drafted programs and policies are weakly implemented and not well promoted through the institutional frameworks.Findings indicate that institutional policies,norms,and provisions have not yet been used to their full potential.Hence the rationale and justification for policy,values,and objectives are not focused on environmentally sustainable means in the region.This finding is largely because the policy is hampered by the lack of enforcement mechanisms and the lack of binding standards in the sectors.Nevertheless,progress has been made in policy promotion in Ethiopia,but there are still many challenges related to the depth of implementation of the standards.After a critical analysis,the study concluded that the Somalia and Djibouti institutions are not effective.The cities and urban centers are polluted,and drought and desertification are becoming common factors.Residents of Somalia and Djibouti have been affected by environmental pollution and coastal areas because Somalia and Djibouti's environmental institutions failed to implement and promote the norms and policies and also failed to establish arrangements.In all the countries included in this study,promoting environmental governance is ineffective,and regional and international institutional efforts are weak and inconsistent in implementing norms and values.The institutional means of promoting cooperation mechanisms have not been developed.The main factors are related to lack of institutional interaction due to weak policies,lack of binding standards,and lack of leadership commitment.These tools range from institutional pressure to the absence of binding standards and enforcement mechanisms.Research and outcome on policies and norms promotion in the region have remained inconclusive and all institutions are depending on international NGO funding,and its policies,and jammed by ineffective annual meeting sections for reporting.Thus,the institution's frameworks failed to create binding norms.Therefore,the efforts of institutions have been facing challenges in addressing environmental governance.Principles,values,policies,and institutional cooperation systems,have not yet been satisfactorily developed.Hence,major challenges are lack of binding norms,weak systems for promoting the values of society,lack of legal framework,lack of commitment by political leadership,and political instability within countries.Thus,the finding indicates,that environmental management systems are weak and institutional interactions are also failed and systems are inefficient.Capacity-building programs have failed and also the decision-making process faces challenges.Environmental pollution is affecting society and the environment itself.There is still a gap in the policy implementation process as well as the skills gaps,technologies,and resources challenges are critical matters.The dissertation is based on an analytical framework to study the effectiveness of institutional principles,values,and policies in addressing environmental issues.It examined the impact,efforts,and relationship between norms and policies in the region.This study contributes to the current literature by bridging the gaps in policy processes as variables in the research model in mainstream international relations issues.