In Rio de Janeiro in 1992 it was agreed that the protection of the environment, and
social and economic development are fundamental to sustainable development, based on Rio
Principles. To achieve such development, the global programme was developed, Agenda 21.
Agenda 21 ‘s chapter 28 defined the role and tasks of local governments, and the aim
in it was to create own Local Agenda 21 for every local community in co-operation of
habitants and local organisations until 1996. So, already in Rio, the importance of
local action was noticed.
Municipalities have been working very actively within Local Agenda 21 since Rio. There
is Local Agenda actions at the moment already in 6400 municipalities in 113 countries.
Municipalities have been acting (or have tried to act) since 1992 even in cases where
their national governments have been hesitant in approaching sustainable development
projects.
Local Agenda 21 (LA21) means implementing sustainable development in local level.
It means that local actors like authorities, schools, NGOs and citizens commit themselves
to diminish their environmental effects through increasing environmental awareness,
changing consumption habits better for environment, diminishing energy and water
consumption and the amount of wastes, and increasing recycling. So, LA21 is local level
co-operation for better environment.
In Johannesburg the commitment to sustainable development was reaffirmed. The
Johannesburg declaration on sustainable development says for example that “we
undertake to strengthen and improve governance at all levels, for the effective
implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.” With regard
to the particular interest of local governments, the outcomes of the summit should
inspire to challenge even more national governments to support local efforts to achieve
sustainable development.
The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation para 149 says that national
governments recognize and agree “to enhance the role and capacity of local
authorities as well as stakeholders implementing Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the
Summit and in strengthening the continuing support for Local Agenda programmes and
associated iniatives and partnerships, and (to) encourage, in particular, partnerships
among and between local authorities and other levels of government and stakeholders to
advance sustainable development as called for in, inter alia, the Habitat Agenda.”
The Plan of Implementation also rightly differentiates the role of local governments from
other Major Groups such as NGO’s or Business.
Johannesburg’s local government session “Local Action Moves the World”
gathered 700 participants from all over the world. Local governments opened Local Agenda
21 –campaign and committed themselves to concrete action plans aiming at safety,
vital and eco-efficient communities. It is important that national authorities provide the
possibilities and means for local authorities to make the initiatives. First step for
every national governments is to develop sustainable development program, if there
isn’t one, which supports all municipalities to develop their LA21s.
Baltic Local Agenda 21 Forum (BLA21F) gathers together and support Local agenda
processes in the Baltic Sea Region. Finnish Ministry of Environment supports BLA21F to
implement Johannesburg’s message to local level.
