Implementing Local Agenda 21 : problems and prospects

In response to growing environmentalism both within Australia and internationally over the past few decades, local governments in Australia have sought to improve their environmental performance. Over the past decade, Local Agenda 21 emerged out of United Nations 1992 Earth Summit as the international charter to promote openness, participation and accountability in local governance. Local authorities in Australia seem to lag behind their European counterparts in matters relating to planning for sustainable development in general and the adoption of Local Agenda 21 in particular. Furthermore, recent studies indicate that the adoption of Local Agenda 21 by councils is generally quite limited. In order to ensure that our urban policymakers are on track to achieve the goals of sustainable development as enshrined in the Commonwealth's 'ecologically sustainable development' (ESD) policy, studies need to be undertaken to identify problems and prospects for implementing LA21. Any hurdles that may retard the progress in the implementation of LA21 need to be identified so they can be properly addressed. The paper will first briefly identify the key principles of Local Agenda 21 and discuss the evolution of the 'sustainability movement' in Australia to understand the present context of sustainability policies. Based on the review of literature and authors previous work on the topic, the paper will then examine the problems faced in implementing sustainability at the local context. Some of the impediments to the implementation of LA21 that will be looked into are limited opportunities for public involvement in decision making, attitude of councils towards community participation, gaps in training and eduction of planners, limited resources and lack of political will. Lastly, the paper will explore some of the emerging prospects for implementing sustainability at the local level. These include commitment of financial resources, a clear assignment of responsibilities to appropriate actors for implementation, sponsorship of local champions for sustainable development, promotion of best practice examples and commitment to monitoring and evaluation of LA21 processes and outcomes.