]]
Ecologically Sustainable Development
SMEC Australia Pty Ltd - Heather Neil
UTS Centre for Local Government - Graham Sansom and Julia Porter
Planning Integration Consultants Pty. Ltd. - Ed Wensing
Environment Australia, March 2002
This report responds to a brief issued by Environment Australia for the development of a national local Agenda 21 (LA21) milestone framework for Local Government. The project has been undertaken for Environment Australia and arose from a proposal by the national Local Leaders in Sustainability Forum that such a framework be investigated.
The purpose of the milestone framework is to provide a structured approach or a tool for local governments to deliver strategic sustainability outcomes. The milestone framework is intended as the basis for a national local government sustainable development program.
The brief requires consideration of:
The framework should be consistent with the objectives and principles identified in the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (NSESD).
The methodology adopted for the project was designed to maximise the likelihood of producing a framework acceptable to Local Government and other key stakeholders. It comprised:
The suggested national framework was developed in four stages:
Agenda 21 was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) Summit meeting in June 1992 (United Nations 1992). It is a global partnership for sustainable development that sets out actions we can all take to contribute to global sustainability in the 21st century. Agenda 21 identifies three important elements in progressing towards sustainable development:
Agenda 21 recognises the need for individual countries to interpret and apply its principles in appropriate ways, and that strategies would evolve over time. The 1992 National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development (COAG, 1992) was Australia's response. Like Agenda 21, the Strategy is very wide-ranging and makes specific reference to the need for continuing economic development and various social measures as well as environmental management.
Local Agenda 21 has developed from one small chapter (Chapter 28) of Agenda 21 as a mechanism to encourage greater involvement by local authorities in delivering the programs and changes outlined in Agenda 21. Chapter 28 highlights the importance of local government's role and a number of elements to consider in developing a local Agenda 21.
The aim of local Agenda 21 is to implement local actions to achieve the objectives of Agenda 21. Chapter 28 itself is relatively short and provides little detail about the actions local governments should take. However, around two thirds of the 2509 actions identified in Agenda 21 require the active involvement of Local Government. The lack of detail given in Chapter 28 has resulted in a range of interpretations and guidelines on what LA21 is and how to produce an LA21 strategy.
An overview of international experiences reinforces the importance of LA21 as evidenced by the widespread uptake of LA21 activities by councils around the world. A number of international frameworks for evaluating LA21 provide a useful starting point for developing a national LA21 framework for Australia. Key aspects included in all the frameworks are:
In addition, some of the frameworks highlight the importance of target setting, monitoring and reporting, and linking local issues to global issues and vice versa.
Our research of international experiences also reveals that national LA21 campaigns or national/international LA21 networks play an important role in progressing LA21.
Various guides have been produced to assist Australian Councils to implement LA21. The most recent survey of Australian Local Government indicates that over 170 Councils are implementing LA21 or similar sustainability strategies (DESA 2002).
Our consultations revealed that many local Councils in Australia believe that since LA21 is a philosophy or approach to addressing sustainability then milestones are unnecessary. Other key informants and stakeholders question how LA21 can be moulded into a milestones framework. Compared to LA21, climate change is a much easier concept to undertake and monitor because there are tangible goals that can be quantitatively measured. There is a view that milestones are only useful at a political level, as evidenced by the Cities for Climate ProtectionTM Program.
However, if milestones are to be used for LA21, there is a request that they should be about recognising initiatives and striving for improvement rather than seeking to measure performance in a rigid sense. If milestones are developed, they should not be too structured - not linear measures on a vertical scale - but should acknowledge the many different facets of LA21 and be sufficiently flexible to allow for variation. Some kind of LA21 template rather than milestones has been suggested. In any event entry into the process needs to be simple and the process must be cyclical since it is about continual improvement.
Other key factors to be reflected in a national framework for local Agenda 21 in Australia can be summarised as follows:
As a result of the consultation and review of literature, an Achievement Recognition Matrix is recommended rather than the preparation of a milestone framework.
Agenda 21 and the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development make it clear that any framework for implementation of LA 21, and more broadly achievement of sustainable development, needs to be guided by agreement on essential elements of both process and content. Sustainability is about how things are done as well as what is to be achieved.
The proposed framework is therefore, in the form of an Achievement Recognition Matrix. This matches the key elements of a 'local Agenda 21' process with a set of content objectives tailored to local circumstances. Councils, particularly those that have been actively involved in sustainability initiatives, would add two or three specific local content objectives under each of the broad headings to ensure that the concept of sustainable development is meaningful and practical for their communities whilst still linked to wider global themes. Councils who have less available resources or who are in the early stages of implementing sustainability initiatives, may select only one or two relevant content areas.
The central aim is to highlight the fact that planning and action for sustainability cut across all facets of local government activities, and to give due recognition to all current or previous initiatives that are clearly valuable in achieving sustainable development. There is also scope in the matrix for councils to give particular weight to those aspects of sustainability seen as most critical in their local and regional areas, including continuing to emphasise 'green' issues if those are considered most pressing.
Using the matrix, councils and communities could check whether both the content of their efforts to achieve sustainable development and the processes being followed are in accordance with the principles of LA 21 and ESD. They would not have to follow a prescriptive, staged approach. The reality is that different councils and communities will have different starting points and priorities, and that progress will often be patchy. Nevertheless, their efforts will be equally worthy of recognition, provided that the methodology and process is appropriate and accords with sustainability principles.
It is not intended that the matrix be used simply as a checklist. It should be the starting point for a more detailed review of a council's efforts.
The project team considered a number of options for some form of assessment of progress towards sustainable development. These included:
These options were discussed with the Strategic Partners and focus groups. The preferred approach is that the proposed matrix be used both for self-assessment and in conjunction with a system of peer review, supplemented to some extent by independent verification depending on the particular council/community's requirements. This would accord with the level of 'accreditation' used in similar programs. Peer review is a form of affirmation and could be based on State and/or regional partnership networks similar to the South Australian Partnership for Local Agenda 21 or a regional organisation of councils. This is a supportive, low-cost approach that also offers the advantage of opportunities for regular exchanges of views and experience, shared learning and benchmarking. Councils could select the type of affirmation that best suits their particular needs, stage of development and available resources.
The proposed Achievement Recognition Matrix provides:
A number of steps would need to be taken to implement the proposed matrix and associated processes.
The proposed system would recognise achievements in sustainable development without requiring councils to undertake a separately defined LA 21 process. Existing plans, policies, programs etc. could be submitted for recognition - with or without suitable modifications - and the assessment process could be adapted to suit different approaches in different States or regions. There would be multiple 'entry points' reflecting local circumstances and priorities. The central aim is information exchange, shared learning and critical self-examination, rather than assessment for its own sake or to meet uniform guidelines. This sort of learning process lies at the heart of Agenda 21.
Regardless of the success or failure of the Achievement Recognition Matrix, the need to address sustainability remains fundamental to our future development. Australian Local Government is to be congratulated for its success in progressing sustainability to date, and encouraged to continue this process.
These frameworks are available as PDF files. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view them.
If you experience any trouble with the tables in these documents, we suggest you save them to your computer and open the file from there. To do this right-click on the link to the document and choose Save Target As... (Internet Explorer) or Save Link As... (Netscape Navigator)
If you have difficulties accessing the framework please contact us by telephone on (02) 6274 1902.