Evaluating environmental law and policy in the Netherlands: experiences from the ‘STEM’ programme
Frans Oosterhuis, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at VU University Amsterdam
Between 2004 and 2010, the Dutch Ministry of Environment ran a programme ‘Structural Evaluation of Environmental Legislation’ (Dutch acronym: STEM). It was carried out by researchers from three Dutch universities, with support from Arcadis. A wide variety of projects were executed, resulting in 33 reports. With hindsight, the approach has been hardly ‘structural’, but rather ‘ad hoc’. Nevertheless, the programme has led to useful insights and recommendations for improvements in policy and legislation. Still, a more systematic way of evaluating would be recommendable in order to maximise the learning effect that can be achieved with scarce resources.
