September 2, 2002
By Mandisi Majavu and Sheree Russouw
NEARLY a decade ago the local government in Heidelberg, Germany pioneered an ecologically friendly development plan that has today cut its municipal carbon dioxide emissions, the main cause of global warming, by 30 percent. Nitrous oxide emissions, which deprive the earth's atmosphere of life-giving oxygen, have been reduced in this city by 65 percent since 1986.
Thousands of kilometres away in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegra, in 1996 its municipality established an environmental council, which comprises members of the community and acts as a watchdog, guarding against any non-environmentally friendly policies drawn up by the city council.
"If only we could clone the local governments of Heidelberg and Porto Alegra. Their commitment to sustainable development is inspiring," said Fitz Ford from the World Bank, one of the delegates attending a World Summit on Sustainable Development session on Management for Performance towards Sustainable Communities and Cities on 29 August.
The session formed part of a week-long focus by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives on the role of local government in creating sustainable communities and cities.
"Many cities don't have real targets on sustainable development and don't understand what kind of measures they can use to achieve it. They ignore the successes of other communities in building sustainable cities. Government must be also supported at a local level or else Agenda 21 cannot be implemented," said Jean-Pierre Mbassi, the head of the Municipal Development Partnership in Benin.
Indeed, Agenda 21 seemed to be the buzzword on delegates' lips. This plan of action was drafted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and focuses on environmental protection and fair and equitable development for all of the citizens of the world. Its chapter on local government encourages partnership between all spheres of government in creating sustainable societies.
Mbassi stressed the role of planning and measuring mechanisms to evaluate the efforts of local government in their contributions to sustainable development. "Cities want to know where they've been and where they are in relation to other cities when it comes to sustainable development."
However, delegates from the world's least developed nations insisted that poverty often overrode environmental concerns. "People living in Asia and Africa don't understand the issues surrounding the ozone layer and desertification. They don't even know where their next meal is coming from or if it is coming at all," said Nathaniel von Einsiedel, the regional co-ordinator for Asia for the United Nations Urban Management Programme.
For local governments to become champions of sustainable development, they would have to challenge poverty alleviation, climate protection and the conservation of natural resources such as water and soil by monitoring policy and setting environmental targets. "We have to monitor the use of our common global goods - our natural resources. We have to set targets and prognosis and use these as our indicators," said Ford.
Pieter van Geel, the state secretary for the environment in the Netherlands, said that sustainable development would not be possible at a local level without a partnership from all levels of government. "Local governments in many of the world's countries are often not afforded the power or influence to transform their cities. Their influence is very poor.
"But if local government is close to its community, it will, as a consequence, be close to its needs and problems. The problems facing biodiversity can be solved if we realise that the Third World exists and that its people also need to survive. Agenda 21 is also no blueprint for success for every society because every society differs in its needs."
The solution was for local governments to co-ordinate their plans; work across their city borders, and to duplicate the success of neighbouring towns and cities, he said. "Whether environmental problems are local, or international, they are linked to social trends. They determine the quality of life because people want to be surrounded by trees, for example, or they want to live in a safe environment."
Mbassi insisted that there would be no progress for local governments if they do not consult with their communities. "There must be consultation with women, the disabled, youth and the elderly. Experts often do the planning and monitoring of policy. This ignores civil society and the valuable contribution that it makes. Citizens demand transparency from local government. They need to know how policy is defined and implemented so that they can assess whether it is right or wrong."
The delegates stressed that sustainability did not just involve the environment, but was inextricably linked to the quality of life of people living in the cities. Mbassi said the cost of a thriving economy could not come at the expense of destroying the natural environment.
"That is why planning and monitoring of progress is important. Now, when we measure the performance of local government we can give feedback to our citizens. Otherwise you can't measure the social and environmental impact.
A Swedish delegate compared the advent of worldwide sustainable cities in the future to the landing of the first man on the moon. He said that it would be "one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind," borrowing from Neil Armstrong's famous line. But delegates stressed that it would be small steps, illustrated by Heidelberg and Porto Alegra's sustainable development projects, that would lead to big results for the world's cities and towns.
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