LOCAL GOVERNMENTIMPLEMENTATIONOF AGENDA 21

IC LE I
International Council for
Local Environmental Initiatives

APRIL1997

Local Government Implementation of Agenda 21 was prepared by ICLEI for the EarthCouncil's Rio+5 Forum (April 13-19, 1997 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and for the UN
Commission on Sustainable Development's Earth Surnmit+5.

ICLEI is the international environmental agency of local governments. Founded in 1990,
the Council's mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments
to achieve and monitor tangible improvements in - global environmental conditionsthrough cumulative local actions. It is a membership association whose members cur­rently include more than 250 cities, towns, counties, and their associations around theworld. ICLEI is formally associated with the International Union of Local Authorities(IULA) and serves as its environmental arm.
For more information on this report, please contact:
The International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)World Secretariat
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Internet Website: http://www.iclei.org•••••© ICLEI-Canada, 1997.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without
prior permission of ICLEI-CanadaEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Loc1l governments have demonstrated a
deep commitment to the implementation ofAgenda 21.

local government actions have been in the areasof institutional development, public participa­tion, and improved management systems. In
thousands of cities and towns individual "bestpractice" projects also have produced concrete,
positive impacts in specific areas of manage­
ment. However, few local governments have yetdemonstrated their capacity to achieve dramatic
improvements in social and environmental
trends except in certain key areas of local
responsibility, such as solid waste management
or water pollution control. This conclusion high­lights the importance of the following criticalissues to the successful, worldwide implementa­tion of Agenda 21.

Since 1991, more than 1,800 local govern­ments in 64 countries have established LocalAgenda 21 planning processes to engage with
their communities to implement Agenda 21 at
the local level. Local governments and theircommunities also have voluntarily assumed new
responsibilities for global environmental prob­lems, such as climate change, forest destruction,and pollution of the seas. They have establishedtheir own international programmes, in thecontext of international environmental conven­tions, to address these challenges. For example,
164 cities in 34 countries - and representing
4% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions- have joined a Cities for Climate ProtectionCampaign to reduce their greenhouse gas emis­
sions by as much as 20%.

1. During the past five years, the sustainable
development strategies and projects of local
governments have generally been isolated
from overall municipal budgeting, local
development planning, land-use control,and economic development activities. As aresult, sustainable development strategies,
such as Local Agenda 21, have only result­ed in significant changes in urban develop­
ment trends in a limited number of cases.

The growing role of local governments in
the implementation of Agenda 21 has been rec­ognized by national governments and theUnited Nations system. However, this recogni­tion has not been accompanied by realistic dis­cussion of the ability of local governments andcommunities to implement their Local Agenda
21 action plans or other sustainable develop­
ment responsibilities. Over the past ten years
local governments in more than 60 countries
have received increased responsibilities for envi­
ronmental protection and social programmes asa result of national-level deregulation, decen­
tralization, and "down loading" of traditional
national- or state-level responsibilities. The
institutional and financial capacity of local gov­
ernments to fulfil! these mandates, and theimpacts of rapid decentralization upon theworldwide capacities of the public sector toimplement sustainable development have notbeen sufficiently reviewed.

2. During the same period, many national gov­
ernments have "down loaded" environmen­
tal protection and social development
responsibilities to local governments inorder to address national fiscal problems.
This trend rarely have been accompanied by
new revenue generating powers or by trans­
fers of the revenues that were traditionallyavailable for their execution. The resulting
increase in financial burdens upon local
governments is undermining their ability toimplement Local Agenda 21 strategies.
3. At the same time, reduced or poor national­
level regulation of economic activities is
weakening the ability of local governments
to hold local businesses and other institu­
tions (including themselves) accountable forthe negative environmental and social
impacts of their activities.

ICLEI's analysis of local government imple­
mentation of Agenda 21 during the 1992-1996
period concludes that the greatest impacts of05. Protection of Biodiversit as ai
LocaI Management Cha enge Mu�ti-Functional Park De_sig-nand _Ma�agement in Durba-n,
South Africa

and a reduction of CO2 emissions from munici­
pal buildings of 37% between 1980 and 1990.
An expansion of these programmes, as well as
an innovative programme to finance solar ener­
gy conversions for residential and commercial
buildings, has produced an annual reduction ofCO2 emissions of 1 % between 1990 and 1996.

Values and Principles for Success
The progress of Hannover and Saarbri.ickensince 1990 demonstrates that lasting reductions
in CO2 emissions can be achieved without
damaging local economic health. In addition totheir own energy efficiency measures, thesecases highlight the role that municipalities canplay in introducing new, renewable energy tech­
nologies to the market.

Among all the environmental problems
addressed by international agreements, theprotection of biodiversity, in particular, repre­
sents a local management challenge. The
survival of each species requires the mainte­
nance of specific ecological conditions in
geographically distinct habitats. As humans
establish settlements and economic activities on
all of Earth's terrain, maintenance of these
conditions requires site-specific planning,management, and integration of local socialand ecological requirements.

However, both municipalities report thatthey are unlikely to achieve their 25% reduc­tion targets on their own. In order to achieve
the levels of reductions required to protect theglobal climate, municipalities require further
commitment and supportive actions by national
governments, industry and households - suchas energy taxes, measures to reduce the growthof private automobile transportation, andindustrial efficiency measures.

Historically, most human settlements havebeen established with little reference to local
ecological features and indigenous species.
However, a growing number of local govern­ments have begun to factor habitat protection
and species reproduction issues into municipal
planning and development approval procedures.
In so doing, they are pioneering new ways tocreate more symbiotic relationships between
local residents and their neighbors in the plant
and wildlife communities.

�: The Urban CO2 Reduction Strategies ofHannover and Saarbriicken and staff
reports from the Hannover energy utility(Stadtwerke Hannover) and the
Saarbriicken Energy Department.

Case Summary
Metropolitan Durban (population 3.5 mil­lion) is located in a high rainfall transition area
between tropical and temperate zones and has
an almost full representation of species fromboth zones. Ad hoc urbanization in the city's
central core, coupled with poverty, overcrowd­
ing, and poor municipal services in the periph­eral township areas, has lead to the degradationof the major ecosystems in the city - forests
are being stripped for firewood and building
materials, soil erosion is rife, rivers are polluted
with untreated wastewater, and natural areas◎