1 Accountability Debate Government is accountable for the implementation of all aspects of environmental policy. Some sectors argue that accountability and responsibility must rest with all stakeholders, whether individuals, corporations or government. 2 Affordability Debate Choices must be made on the basis of full information and explicit understanding of financial and other trade-offs. All policy direction must be subject to affordability testing from a monetary and non-monetary point of view. It is recognised that change is necessary and possible, but the rate of change is influenced by capacity and affordability.
Some sectors reject the idea of subjecting all policy direction to the principle of affordability.
Affordability in the context of environmental management must reflect all real costs. Conventional economic and scientific instruments are often insensitive to the complex ways in which real costs are absorbed by environments and communities. This requires that state bodies with responsibilities for managing impacts that affect environmental quality should not have other conflicting functions. For example a government department responsible for regulating resource exploitation in a sector should not be responsible for regulating the monitoring or enforcement functions with respect to environmental impacts resulting from the exploitation of that resource. 4 Capacity Building and Education Environment should be integrated into all disciplines, forms and levels of education and training.