ABSTRACT
Implementation is usually interpreted to mean taking action, or taking something such as a promise or statement of intent and translating it into specific activity. In resource and environmental management, a challenge often is to move from normative planning (what should be done) to operational planning (what will be done) (also discussed in Chapter 8). An often heard criticism is that the world is littered with good intentions, policies and plans, but little follow up action. As the statement in Box 12.1 indicates, expressions of intent without associated activity normally have little value.
Policies, by themselves, have very little value. Without the development of implementation strategies and the will to carry those policies into actual practice, all that is left are hollow words.
Broad statements of policy create expectations which must be met. A failure to meet expectations creates significant credibility gaps which, at a minimum, hamper further action. Moreover, a failure to implement good policy is also a failure to address significant problems in a meaningful way.
… policy makers must be held accountable not only to enunciate policy, but also to insure that the means exist to carry that policy out. We cannot be satisfied with the creation of policy alone. We must force the policy makers to address what is necessary to bridge the policy-practice gap…. The key, …, is to understand that most policy is not self-implementing and requires a conscious effort toward implementation before it will be actually realized in practice.
Source: Somach, 1993: 19, 20, 22.