MPO



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MPO Background



Policymakers often find themselves confronted with unanticipated social and environmental costs resulting from ostensibly "sensible" economic policies. Incentives created to stimulate food production, for example, may disrupt rural communities and trigger soil depletion. Such paradoxes result from the fact that the standard practice of economics which today dominates public and private decision-making fails to take adequate account of social and environmental impacts. The social and environmental costs of economic activities are treated as "externalities" largely irrelevant to the economic equation. Yet in the long-term, these costs may undermine both the long-term growth and the social development that the economic policies intend to foster.

Recognizing the systemic character of economic policy failure and the implications of that failure for its conservation mission, WWF decided to dedicate significant resources to addressing the relationship between macroeconomics and the environment.

OBJECTIVE

WWF has established a unique program to explore the linkages between macroeconomics and the environment. The objective of the Macroeconomics for Sustainable Development Program Office (MPO) are threefold:

  • to analyze deficiencies of current theory and practice of macroeconomics with respect to the environment;

  • to promote alternative approaches that integrate environmental and social concerns into the planning and implementation of macroeconomic policy; and,

  • to work with governments, the private sector, and groups of civil society to implement those needed policy changes.

THE MPO PROGRAM

Having contributed to the conceptual foundations of sustainable development, WWF deepened its commitment to engage in policy reform by establishing the MPO Program in 1991. Today, the Program's focuses in four main areas: Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss, Macroeconomic Reforms in Southern Africa, Resource Accounting, and Training.

MPO's OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES

The Macroeconomics Program is committed to the idea that research must produce pragmatic and action-oriented policy recommendations.. The aim of such recommendations reflect the twin principles of sustainable development: They must support improvement of the human condition while ensuring the protection of nature's life-support systems. From these overarching goals, the MPO derives its operational objectives:

  1. Conducting objective research: Efforts to reform the current approach to macroeconomics must be grounded in rigorous, professional analysis. MPO research is conducted from an agnostic point of view ehcih makes no assumptions on cause and effect until all data have been collected.

  2. Formulating policy alternatives: Research alone is not adequateenough? to change deficient policy. The MPO is committed to articulating alternative macroeconomic policies which promote sustainable development. The alternative approaches seek to integrate the three components of development - the economic, social, and environmental.

  3. Forging partnerships: Problems addressed by the MPO affect everyone, yet no single group or organization can provide or implement all potentially viable solutions. Only strong and creative partnerships among stakeholders can produce integrated, multi-sectoral analysis and feasible policy responses. The MPO seeks to forge creative partnerships with governments, the private sector, international development agencies and organizations of civil society.

  4. Building local capacity: The innovative nature of the MPO's work poses a challenge to research institutes and policymakers. Therefore, a crucial objective is to strengthen research skills of local institutes and to build local capacity to promote policy dialogue and reform. The MPO designs its projects and training activities to ensure enduring improvement in the analytical and policy implementation capacity of its local partners.


Why Macroeconomics?