The MPIA at work: How an IR/PS graduate is helping shape environmental policy
03/26/2007
Eeva Moore,
“In September 2003 you promised a PMP toolkit that would enable students to succeed in any circumstance.” Said Tanya Lloyd (MPIA 2005) in a recent email to IR/PS Professor Matthew Shugart “What you didn’t tell us was that it could help us change the world.”
While Shugart himself does not think the PMP toolkit would get students through any circumstance, he does promise them that it will provide a set of tools to allow them to determine who makes a given policy, how the policy-maker is held accountable, and who holds the policy-maker accountable. “With the basic set of skills grounded in the logics of collective action, delegation, and political institutions, I tell them they are ready to go off and understand policy and how to influence it,” said Shugart.
Tanya is proof of just how true a statement that is. She was hired by British Columbia’s Office of the Premier to write a strategy paper to initiate bilateral dialogue between British Columbia and California at the executive level. Since California and British Columbia had no pre-existing relationship, the disparity between the province and California's economic size and political clout made this a challenging proposition.
Tanya’s initial research–just as PMP teaches–was to determine which agencies in California were directly accountable to the Governor. She developed a paper for the Premier based on her analysis of the electoral incentives of the actors and produced a California Engagement Strategy.
The strategy recommended creating opportunities for the respective leaders to showcase their roles in leading North America in advancing regional climate change initiatives, pioneering the adoption of clean energy and transportation technologies and championing health and wellness initiatives. She also identified several global issues affecting the West Coast that could be included in the dialogue.
This became a reality on March 15, 2007 when Premier Gordon Campbell met with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles to discuss their "climate action plans". Upcoming initiatives will include such things as more precise details of how British Columbia can introduce California's emission standards for automobiles, take part in a regional market for trading greenhouse gas emissions and build a "hydrogen highway" for fuel-cell automobiles to travel from Whistler to California.
Campbell said he found Schwarzenegger supportive of British Columbia's plans, as well as of a strategy to create "green ports" up and down the West Coast that set environmental standards to protect the oceans and air quality.
Prior to her contract with British Columbia’s government, Tanya won a prestigious national competition to join the “Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future” program facilitated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and funded by the Canadian government. She has been working in Sustainable Finance with the International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC since September 2006.
Related Links
Click here to read more about Professor Matthew Shugart
