Local Agenda 21

Best Practice

Topics

• New forms of decision-making
• Governance capacity, Policies and instruments

Short description

The local Agenda21 concept is present across the whole Italian territory, most advanced in the northern regions. There are 556 active Local Agenda21 processes, most often promoted by Municipalities and Provinces followed by Mountain Communities and Parks. LA21 has proved to be an effective new instrument of governance for local sustainable development.

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Project executive

Different in each case; coordination by Italian Coordination for Local Agenda21 (Il Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali Italiane), a non-profit association formed in 2000

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Participants

There are 20 different categories of stakeholders involved: public authorities and institutions at different levels (local communities – Municipalities, Quarters, community networks, Mountain Communities, Provinces, Regions) schools, Nature park managers, non-governmental organizations, voluntary groups, experts, individuals etc… Local administrations are most active promoters of LA21.

Objectives

To promote the idea of sustainable development and to initiate projects aimed at achievement of environmental, economic and social objectives at sub national level.

Activities

Critical analysis, scenario definition, elaboration of Action plan, Operational programs and project definition, project implementation, monitoring, feed back

Process

1.Official adhesion of the local authorities to Aalborg Charter; 2.Opening of the Civic Forum (first Plenary Session), with the task to define the priorities both in term of problems and of knowledge gathering; 3.Elaboration of an Environment State Report, in which the socio-economic and environment situation is defined on the basis of already existing data; 4.Start of thematic work-tables in which the initial situation is defined, the problems and their possible solutions are underlined and some specific projects are implemented (following the European Awareness Scenario Workshop methodology); 5.Second Plenary Session of the Civic Forum in which the results of the thematic work tables are presented and a Local Action Plan, constituted by specific projects that have to be realised on a medium and long period, is proposed and approved by the Forum; 6.Official adoption of the Local Action Plan, implementation of the projects included in the plan, monitoring of the results

Results

Improved exchange of information and dialogue, improved knowledge and coordination of existing projects, problems identified and prioritized, solutions proposed, better coordination and integration of actions, improved capacity for project implementation. Altogether 1309 implemented projects following the Operative programs, many of them of intersectoral type. The results can be seen as “5P”: promoting and improving of A21 processes, Action plans, Implemented projects, participation, and partnership.

Evaluation

The evaluation has been going on in the cases, in which the Action plans and Operative programs have already been developed. Evaluations is based on monitoring of the achieved results according to the set indicators, on public surveys as well as subjective evaluations made by the forum and working groups participants.

Difficulties

Lack of (stable) resources, Dependency on calls for tenders, Difficulties in accepting obligations and implementing duties by participants, Difficulties in securing continuing political support as well as continuous and active cooperation of involved actors (because they are not used to project oriented, inclusive type of work, addressing interdisciplinary problems, process & governance issues, engagement in multilateral negotiations with diverse type of partners, …), Long periods between project idea and implementation, Difficulties in integration LA21 objectives and projects in sectoral policies.

Budget

no data available (Euro)

Financial backer

Co-funding of the Ministry of Environment, some Regions and Provinces (by tender)

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.a21italy.it/a21italy/index.php

Publication

Sancassiani W. et al, 2004. Agenda 21 Locale in Italia - Partecipazione e progetti per lo sviluppo sostenibile locale. Indagine sull'attuazione dei processi di Agenda 21. FocusLab Sancassiani W., 2005, Local agenda 21 in Italy: an effective governance tool for facilitating local communities' participation and promoting capacity building for sustainability, Local Environment, Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group, Volume 10, Number 2 / April 2005 pp. 189 - 200

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

Projects have been initiated and implemented in the areas of: waste disposal and recycling, spatial management, water, transport and mobility, energy, air, biodiversity.

Economic value added

Projects have been focused in improving management of the resources in: tourism, quality agricultural products, services, labor and jobs.

Socio-cultural value added

Projects have been initiated and implemented in the fields of education and formation, communication, information and participation, services and social cohesion, cultural heritage and arts, health and security, equal opportunities. The LA21 processes have stimulated concepts such as horizontal subsidiarity, co-responsibility and active citizenship in various fields of action, and have achieved empowerment of the actors in terms of project development and implementation.

Innovative content

There is a significant increase in application of innovative participatory techniques, often introduced by an external (or internal) facilitator. LA21 have functioned complementarily to traditional expert and sectoral approaches and as a platform for introduction of new instruments of management of a voluntary nature and instruments of governance oriented to the process and inclusion of different stakeholders. The most successful LA21 projects were those using innovative management instruments for policy making support.

Good governance

The LA21 approach brings in operation the criteria provided by EU White book of governance regarding better communication, transparence, integration of policies and projects, inclusion and participation of different actors in the decision making processes. The other aspect is definition of the projects, based on diverse interests and need, to better protect common good and resources of community as a whole. The Agenda21 forums have gained considerable legitimacy in decision making in several issues. They have been at least partly involved in decision making issues other than Agenda 21 (i.e. sectoral programs). Most stakeholders and citizens are involved in the phase of problem analysis and definition of problems, but less so in the phases of project implementation and evaluation.

PR impact

The local Agenda21 is a widely known and well promoted project in Italy (over 500 processess have been initialized)

Multiplier effect / networking

There is a good cooperation and exchange of experience among the local communities, which are involved in the LA21 process

Transferability

Local Agenda21 is a universal program that has already been transferred to several countries. The Italian case shows that it can be successfully implemented at various administrative levels (municipality, local community networks, province, region) and even in non-administrative contexts (i.e LA21 in schools and nature protection parks).

Further information