43 cities responded
activities started and going on
major obstacles
- financing
- lack of interest
- lack of education
- lack of political will
need for support
- education
- seminars
- exchange of experiences
- financial support
results a basis for UBC´s coming Local Agenda 21 activities
Background
The Environmental Ministers of the Baltic Sea Region decided to develop an Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea Region (Baltic 21) in their meeting in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden 20 - 21 October. Thereafter, a Senior Officials Group (SOG) was established to monitor, contribute to and steer the process of Baltic 21. UBC was accepted as a full member to the SOG in its first meeting in January 1997.In spite of the fact that Baltic 21 intends to focus on regional aspects and the integration of a number of key sectors the work done at the local level cannot be overlooked or ignored. In order to find out the current Local Agenda 21 situation in UBC member cities, the Commission on Environment conducted this Agenda 21 survey. It is an important prerequisite for UBCÝs work with the SOG, and in addition it will be a cornerstone when planning UBCÝs future activities as related to Local Agenda 21.
Methods
The survey was conducted in December 1996 - January 1997. The questionnaires were sent to environmental contact persons in UBC member cities, together with the first issue of the Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin. A reminder was sent in mid January to those cities which had not yet answered. Altogether, 43 cities out of the total 65 answered (66 %), which can be regarded as a favourable percentage.
Results
The cities provided very thorough and comprehensive answers, but the concept of Local Agenda and sustainable development caused some trouble. As a result, in some cases the answers are somewhat biased, e.g., many cities replied that they have a person hired for Local Agenda 21 activities but what they actually meant was that the city had employed someone to deal with sustainable development in general and not Local Agenda 21 in particular.At least 50 % of the cities in each country answered the survey with the exception of Norway and Estonia. Based on these results, the Local Agenda activities have in general been started in UBC cities. However, most of the western cities are slightly ahead of their eastern counterparts when comparing the number of already existing action plans as well as the number of employed people.
Role of different actors
Who is then responsible for the Agenda-work in these cities? In over 50 % of the cities that responded, government is mentioned as an active participant. City administration is active in almost all cities (97 %) and NGOs are almost as active (91 %). Private enterprises were mentioned as being active in 70 % of the cities.
Activities in different sectors
At least 50 % of the cities had activities supporting sustainable development in all other mentioned sectors except commerce. Furthermore the most active sectors were waste management, environmental education and energy issues followed by physical planning, traffic and nature conservation as can be seen from Figure 1. Some activities have already been finished which shows a shift to the implementation phase. Future activities are also being planned in many sectors, especially energy and traffic.
Major obstacles
The major obstacle for work towards sustainable development was - as expected - lack of financing. But maybe a little bit surprising were the three following reasons: lack of interest among citizens and the lack of education and political will.
Need for support
When the cities were asked what kind of support they would need to boost their work towards sustainable development, the answers given were in opposite order. Education and seminars were mostly needed (both were mentioned by 13 cities) and 8 cities expressed their need for the exchange of experiences. After these came the need for financial support in fourth place, as mentioned by 5 cities. Perhaps the cities had in mind that UBCÝs financial resources are small and therefore did not put the need for financial support in first place as may have been predicted in the list of major obstacles. At any rate, education, seminars and exchange of experiences are issues within UBCÝs mission and this is very valuable information when planning UBCÝs future activities.
Future cooperation
Almost every city expressed its will to participate in UBCÝs possible future work in the field of Local Agenda 21. This, together with the clear need for education, seminars and exchange of experiences will be taken into serious consideration by the Commission on Environment and shall be further discussed in the next meeting in Tallinn, 19 April 1997. Hopefully the results will also encourage the Baltic 21 steering group to involve Local Agenda 21 in their work.For further information about the survey results, please contact the Commission on Environment or fax: +358 2 253 8613. If your city has not yet reacted to the survey but would like to do so, please contact the Secretariat. Furthermore, if you have any initiatives, ideas or comments concerning this important issue, we would be delighted to hear them.