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Voluntary environmental agreements in developing countries: the Colombian experience

Author

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  • Allen Blackman
  • Eduardo Uribe
  • Bart Hoof
  • Thomas Lyon

Abstract

Voluntary agreements (VAs) negotiated between environmental regulators and polluters are increasingly popular in developing countries. According to proponents, they can sidestep weak institutions and other pervasive barriers to conventional mandatory regulation in such countries. Yet little is known about the drivers of their use and their effectiveness in poor countries. The considerable literature on voluntary initiatives in industrialized countries, where both VAs and socioeconomic conditions differ, may not apply. Using a conceptual framework drawn from the economics literature, we examine four prominent VAs in Colombia, a global leader in the use of this policy. We find that the main motive for using VAs has been to build capacity needed for broader environmental regulatory reform and that partly as a result, VAs’ additional effect on environmental performance has been limited. These findings contrast with those from industrialized country studies, which typically conclude VAs are used as a low-cost substitute for impending mandatory regulation and have few benefits because of weak regulatory pressure. Our findings suggest that in developing countries, VAs may be best suited to capacity building, not environmental management per se. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Allen Blackman & Eduardo Uribe & Bart Hoof & Thomas Lyon, 2013. "Voluntary environmental agreements in developing countries: the Colombian experience," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(4), pages 335-385, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:46:y:2013:i:4:p:335-385
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-013-9176-z
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    1. Allen Blackman, 2010. "Alternative Pollution Control Policies in Developing Countries," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 234-253, Summer.
    2. Blackman, Allen, 2009. "Alternative Pollution Control Policies in Developing Countries: Informal, Informational, and Voluntary," RFF Working Paper Series dp-09-10, Resources for the Future.
    3. Blackman, Allen & Guerrero, Santiago, 2012. "What drives voluntary eco-certification in Mexico?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 256-268.
    4. Hongyun Han & Zhijian Zhang & Sheng Xia, 2016. "The Crowding-Out Effects of Garbage Fees and Voluntary Source Separation Programs on Waste Reduction: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Shivananda Shetty & Surender Kumar, 2017. "Are voluntary environment programs effective in improving the environmental performance: evidence from polluting Indian Industries," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(4), pages 659-676, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Voluntary environmental agreement; Pollution; Colombia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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