RAMEA
Focus
Policy and decision-makers are better informed and can see the implications of their decisions on both the economy and the environment.
3/25/2009
Most people are aware that, one way or another, the economic decisions of nations and regions can affect the environment. However until now, it has not been easy for regional policy makers to take any quantifiable account of these connections.
It is essential to forge a clear link between the economy and the environment, to measure these effects, so that economical and social development can be progressed without causing undue environmental harm. The RAMEA project has created a regional NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix)-style system so that the pressures placed on the environment by economic and household activities can be analyzed, and to inform decision-making amongst policy-makers.
RAMEA is a resource management project within the GROW programme, working across four EU regions - South East England (UK), Malopolska (PL), Emilia-Romagna (IT) and Noord-Brabant (NL). It is closely linked with the EU goals of achieving a sustainable development strategy throughout Europe.
Led by the Italian organisation, ARPA, the project includes seven partners from the four regions. Workshops and meetings were held between the partners, exhibiting excellent team-work, which have resulted in a RAMEA of economic and environmental data for each partner region. It has developed four matrices and set in motion a continuing process of analysing the data.
The major output from the project is the construction of four RAMEA matrices a series of consistent and comparable benchmarking indicators between the four regions in terms of their economic and environmental performance. A construction manual and a user manual have been produced, which report on the four case studies carried out as part of the project. Linking environmental pressures, such as air emissions, to economic and household activities has made it possible to identify which sectors of society and industry are responsible for the various impacts on the environment. Policy and decision-makers are better informed on the implications of their decisions for both the economy and the environment, and the general public have access to simpler environmental information. "The work of our excellent project team has given great support to those whose job it is to work out sustainable development strategies and to evaluate the effect of their policies," said Michele Sansoni of lead partner ARPA.
The analysis of the results, the benchmarking of regional performance, the production of case studies and development of the manuals is still ongoing. However the team are convinced that their RAMEA matrices will become a recognised and valuable tool for the four partner regions and one which can also be made available to others. Homogeneous regional statistics will, in turn, lead to stronger national statistics.
(from GROW Update October 2007)
Printable version edited by: Arpa Emilia-Romagna - last update: 3/19/2010
