This book is the second collection of systematic case studies describing national environmental policies in 17 countries in terms of capacity building (see Appen dix). The OECD defines environmental capacity building as "a society's ability to identify and solve environmental problems. " While various institutions, including UNEP, FAO, World Bank and OECD, have hitherto used the terms environmental capacity and capacity building almost exclusively with reference to developing countries, we have extended the concepts to industrialized countries, as well. The first collection, edited by Martin Janicke, Helge Joergens (both Free University Berlin) and Helmut Weidner (Social Science Research Center Berlin), was pub lished in 1997 under the title "National Environmental Policies - A Comparative Study of Capacity-Building" (Berlin, etc. : Springer Verlag). It included 13 studies of countries. As in the first volume, chapter I presents the conceptual framework underlying the national case studies. It is a slightly shorter version of the corresponding chap ter in volume I. The design of all case studies in the two volumes is largely con gruent with this conceptual framework. Although the various sections of the stud ies do not always have identical titles and subtitles, the central elements of the capacity-building approach have been applied in all cases.

This book is a collection of systematically prepared case studies describing the environmental policy ofthirteen countriesin terms ofcapacity-building. Capacity for environmental policy and management, as the concept is used in this volume, has been defined broadly as a society's "ability (...) to devise and implement solutions to environmental issues as part of a wider effort to achieve sustainable development" (OECD). Since the late 1960s capacity-building in environmental policy and management can be observed across the world. It may have made insufficient progress as yet from an environmentalist point of view, but it has produced some remarkable results, and not only in the industrialised world. In the first chapter we present the conceptual framework that underlies the national case studies. In the course ofour research project the authors ofthe book met together twice to discuss this framework in the light of the national experi ences and to harmonise their approaches. In this way we have tried to offer more than a collection of individual and incoherent case studies, focusing only on specific environmental problems, institutions, actors, or instruments. The idea behind this book is to give a systematic, comparative overview ofthe fundamental conditions under which environmental policies is practised in selected countries.

This policy guidance outlines a number of steps to be considered when building capacity for greening national development planning, national budgetary processes and key economic sector strategies.

Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. This book argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.

The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

This book offers a window into the mechanisms that drive events when countries with poor track records in environmental protection and low administrative capacity, join an organisation with ambitious environmental regulatory regimes, which include some of the highest environmental protections standards in the world. This book examines the institutional building capacity in Romania after two decades of the development of the EU's environmental policy on elaboration, transposition, implementation, monitoring and institutional building. The book examines how Romania has fared as one of the least environmentally friendly EU member states, and poses the following questions. What are the limits of Europeanisation in the area of public policies? What is the reason why, despite the overwhelming public interest in environmental issues, and widespread agreement that urgent action to protect the environment and prevent catastrophic climate change are paramount, the pace of achieving the goals is remains slow. Why do policies fail? This book brings together several case studies focusing on the evolution of environmental policies in Romania over the last twenty years, with a special focus on the post-accession period (2007 onwards). The book provides an analysis of policies, where progress is less than satisfactory, and examines why this is the case.