Local Agenda 21

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As Local Agenda 21 , a program of action is known that a community or region towards sustainability should develop. The model for this municipal action program is a global program, Agenda 21 , which was adopted in 1992 by 178 member states of the UN . This contains measures in numerous policy areas to shape the way of life and economy of the human species in a sustainable manner (“survive the 21st century”). Agenda 21 addresses all political levels apart from international institutions and national governments; Chapter 28 of this document calls on all municipalities in the signatory countries to draw up such a sustainability-oriented action program at their level as well. This should be done in cooperation with citizens, civil society organizations and the private sector . A common motto is "Think globally - act locally!"

“As many of the problems and solutions addressed in Agenda 21 can be traced back to activities at the local level, the involvement and involvement of local authorities is a crucial factor in realizing the goals contained in the Agenda. […]
By 1996, the majority of the local governments in the individual countries should have submitted to a consultation process with their citizens and reached a consensus on a 'local Agenda 21' for the community. "

- Extract from Chapter 28 of Agenda 21

Worldwide process

In over 10,000 cities and municipalities around the world, citizens, groups, clubs, associations and initiatives, together with administrations and representatives from business, have started to campaign for the implementation of Agenda 21 at the local level. The majority of these municipalities are in Europe. In Germany there are already over 2,600 municipalities that have passed a municipal council resolution to develop a local Agenda 21.

Since Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 is short, numerous representatives of European municipalities at meetings in 1994 in Aalborg, Denmark and in Lisbon in 1996, based on the overall text of Agenda 21, developed further guidelines and agreed on how a process of creating a local Agenda 21 should be designed . This was recorded in the Aalborg Charter and the Lisbon Declaration. Since then, one can speak of a concept for this participation process.

At the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 , the Local Government Session gave an extensive assessment of 900 municipal representatives. They found that many individual measures point in the direction formulated in 1992, but that there is still resistance in the municipalities to the comprehensive reform program “Local Agenda 21”.

Another conference of European municipalities in Aalborg in 2004 deepened the concept of “Local Agenda 21” and pushed for the implementation of the original concept. In the final document “Aalborg Commitments” its procedures were precisely described. The most important elements are:

  • Inventory ( sustainability report and current goals / measures),
  • common goal setting (mission statement and measurable goals),
  • Deriving measures from these goals,
  • regular success control.

"We have the vision of integrative, prosperous, creative and sustainable cities and communities that offer all residents a high quality of life and give them the opportunity to actively participate in all aspects of urban life." (Aalborg Commitments 2004).

National

Germany

Initial phase (1992–1998)

In the initial phase from 1994 to 1997 (1st generation), the local Agenda 21 work mainly focused on environmental issues and project work. The Local Agenda 21 and the topic of sustainability were anything but “a matter of course”. During this time, considerable resistance had to be overcome and trust had to be built. In 1997 there were only 80 municipal Agenda 21 resolutions in Bavaria. The trailblazer was the Local Agenda 21 Köpenick in Berlin, the Local Agenda 21 Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia , the City of Munich in Bavaria and the Agenda 21 Altmühltal (Eichstätt district, Altmühltal Nature Park). Often the first initiative (from 1994) came from church circles (Köpenick, Altmühltal) and educational institutions (Munich).

Growth phase (1998-2002)

The Rio plus 5 Earth Summit in New York marks the turning point in the growth phase . The experiences of the 1st generation were evaluated and led to a bundle of improvement measures. This resulted in z. B. in Bavaria the Komma-21 headquarters and various funding programs. The main aim was to improve the framework conditions for a successful Local Agenda 21 process. A major contribution was the clarification of the steps towards the Local Agenda 21.

Even during the growth phase, the agenda process in Germany stalled after the reduction in public funds. Whereby there were regionally different developments. In addition, depending on the personnel commitment of the full-time internal or external municipal agenda officers and the response from the mostly voluntary local politicians, there is a greater or lesser degree of frustration among the consistently voluntary agenda activists.

In order to push the process of agenda work forward again, the German Society Agenda 21 was founded in 2001 at federal level and the nationwide service center Local Agenda 21 in 2002, as well as the only state association in Hesse at state level. In addition to the general promotion of voluntary work in the implementation of LA-21, the Hessian state association also specifically emphasizes economic projects. In a narrower sense, these are oriented towards the creation of economically justifiable alternatives to fossil energy suppliers for the supply of energy carriers based on renewable raw materials. The focus in the state of Hesse is on the use of wood .

Quality phase (from 2002)

Local Agenda 21 has become a "matter of course" and a worldwide movement today. At the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, the Local Government Session took stock and prepared the next phase. Even if there are over 10,000 processes worldwide, the first signs of fatigue occur in many places. Some processes even failed completely. Many municipalities have stopped in the middle of the road or gone off course. Some are only missing a few steps to a successful intermediate goal. Due to the local frustration experiences, but also due to the similarity of the name with Agenda 2000 and especially Agenda 2010 , the image of Local Agenda 21 in Germany has suffered greatly. On the other hand, sustainability or future viability has become the central challenge for municipalities in Germany and the EU (see Germany 2020 study). In the Free State of Bavaria, the largest evaluation of the Local Agenda 21 in Germany with 1,097 municipalities was carried out. The aim of the quality phase is to qualitatively complete the started Local Agenda 21 processes (interim result model) and to equip the municipalities well for the challenge of sustainability.

Paradigm shift to the local sustainability strategy (from 2012)

With the model project “Visions for Ingolstadt” new international accents were set and the third generation of the instruments was prepared. Due to the numerous experiences of the 2nd generation processes in Bavaria, Germany and Europe, the paradigm shift to the local sustainability strategy was carried out in the city of Ingolstadt, analogous to the states and state governments . Ralf Klemens Stappen developed a first prototype of the new methodology for the city of Ingolstadt, which is based on the UNDP / OECD standard for "Sustainable Development Strategies" and was first presented at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 . What is important here is a cyclical and process-oriented understanding of sustainable development and anchoring it in municipal sustainability management . This means that strong instruments are now available for the communal future viability and a professionalisation of the practice is slowly becoming apparent.

Other new instruments are e.g. B .:

  • the model of the citizen commune ;
  • dovetailing with overarching sustainability strategies (e.g. the EU or Germany);
  • a strategic direction
  • Sustainability as a holistic view as an "umbrella" or "roof" for economy, environment, social, culture, one world etc.,
  • broad and qualified public participation,
  • good governance structures for the overall process;
  • high quality of results;
  • anchored mode of implementation;
  • Interlinking with other areas and instruments, e.g. B. social city, community development cooperation

Example: The local sustainability strategy of the city of Neumarkt

The city of Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz (Nuremberg region) was the first city in Germany (with the Ingolstadt process) to develop and adopt a local sustainability strategy with a city model and urban development program - as part of a local Agenda 21 process. The focus is on 6 guiding principles, 24 guiding principles for future viability up to 2025, 17 leading projects and 164 measures and individual projects for sustainable urban development (see literature). Neumarkt has a special local sustainability culture, which z. B. expresses in the fact that the organic brewery Lammsbräu received the environmental award of the Federal Environment Foundation in 2002 and is thus home to one of the most sustainable and ecological companies in Germany. Another special feature is the church's environmental management in the parish of Hl. Kreuz (as part of diocesan Agenda 21 of the diocese of Eichstätt), which was the first parish in Germany to be certified according to EMAS (eco-audit), as well as the numerous sustainability projects in the Neumarkt district. In 2012, the city of Neumarkt was awarded the German Sustainability Prize as the most sustainable city in the medium-sized cities category. Similar processes are running in Oslo, rugby and Cardiff. The focus is on a link with sustainable urban development and community development.

The paradigm shift from the Local Agenda 21 to the Local Sustainability Strategy was carried out by 2012 (see study Rio on site, 2012).

Austria

In Austria, the Local Agenda 21 is managed by the Ministry of Life . Since it began in Austria in 1997, Local Agenda 21 processes have now been running in 500 municipalities, cities, districts and regions nationwide, making important contributions to the sustainable development of rural and urban areas. The federal states as well as the Ministry of Life support these future processes - with knowledge, advice, process support, communication and funding. Since the Local Agenda 21 makes essential contributions to strengthening the regions, it is also anchored in the funding program for rural development.

As the first pilot project of the Local Agenda 21 initiated by the City of Vienna , the 9th district of Vienna (Alsergrund) started in 1998 with a comprehensive "activating city diagnosis". The resulting successful actions and changes in public space led from 2002 to a city-wide model of the Local Agenda 21 Vienna. The districts of the city can currently participate voluntarily in the association's program and improve their quality of life through their own agenda offices in the respective districts. The expanded program of the Local Agenda 21 Plus Vienna has existed since 2009, which deals with the main topics of sustainable mobility , public space , intercultural dialogue and the design of city districts for young and old. Another gain for the sustainable urban development of Vienna was the initiated ideas competition ELLA, which gave the citizens of the districts the opportunity to submit their own ideas and implement them independently.

See also

literature

  • OECD / UNDP: Sustainable Development Strategies. 2002

Germany:

  • BMU: Local Agenda 21 and sustainable development in German municipalities. 10 years after Rio: balance sheet and prospects . Bonn 2002
  • German Association of Cities : Municipalities on the way to sustainability. Congress documentation . Cologne / Berlin 2004
  • Nolting, Katrin, and Edgar Göll. “Rio + 20 on site” - municipalities on the way to sustainability. Examples from Germany. Research report with partial studies (Ed.) Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment, Berlin ( PDF ) (2012).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City of Neumarkt: Sustainable Neumarkt. City model Neumarkt idOpf. Neumarkt 2004 download ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.buergerhaus-neumarkt.de
  2. ↑ Local Agenda 21 , Lebensministerium.at
  3. ↑ sustainability.at. ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Sustainability portal of the Ministry for a liveable Austria. Accessed October 7, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nachhaltigkeit.at