Prudent development - a shared responsibility
17 Public participation and Local Agenda 21
A sustainable society is based on democracy and transparency and relies on the population to participate in decisions and to take responsibility. Sustainable development can only be realised if all parts of Danish society are committed to working for this goal. The work towards sustainable development depends on the population having easy access to information, being able to participate in decision-making processes and having access to justice in environmental matters. These rights were extended with the Aarhus Convention of 1998.
If we are to achieve sustainable development globally, the principles of the Aarhus Convention should also apply in other countries. Denmark will work to ensure that these principles are employed more extensively in international agreements and that initiatives to strengthen public access to information and participation are included in the results of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Denmark additionally supports these principles through environmental and development assistance projects. Local Agenda 21 activities also play an important part in the efforts to realise sustainable development.
The Brundtland Report of 1987 and the Rio Declaration of 1992 conveyed the clear message that active public participation is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development and solving the environmental problems of the world. Denmark has a long-standing tradition of involving the public in environmental work - a tradition that was extended and strengthened with the Aarhus Convention.
The Aarhus Convention of 1998 is an international agreement about the environmental rights of citizens. It implies that citizens and environmental organisations must have access to information and participation in decisions on environmental matters - new rules, action plans or other planning. In addition, citizens are entitled to lodge complaints and initiate proceedings before courts of law. In September 2000 Denmark was the first western country to ratify the Aarhus Convention.This has offered environmental organisations improved access to justice under a range of important environmental statutes and has also extended the general principle of involving citizens in planning decisions. Public participation in decisions on and the implementation of the sustainable development strategy is essential.The public can add knowledge and values and submit proposals for priorities in the further work in Denmark in the field of sustainable development. Moreover, NGOs and professional associations can contribute to supplementing the knowledge employed by the authorities.
The sustainable development theme needs to be taught at all levels of the educational sector.The aim is to give everyone an opportunity to increase their knowledge of the many problems and issues encompassed by the debate on sustainable development at global, regional and local level.
Local activities are the starting point for addressing many of the problems that must be solved for society to steer in the direction of sustainable development. Changes capable of taking development in a sustainable direction must come from people's daily lives and choices, from the employees of companies and from the institutions of society.
Changes are stimulated through, for instance, Local Agenda 21 work, which comprises activities under the auspices of municipalities and counties and activities undertaken in local areas by companies, organisations and citizens. These activities relate to issues such as resource consumption, waste management and environment-friendly behaviour in conjunction with municipal services, corporate production and citizens' everyday lives.
Local Agenda 21 in Albertslund Hyldespjældet is a non-profit housing association in the Municipality of Albertslund. The area used to be socially deprived, but a broad range of environmental projects have helped promote a strong sense of solidarity, and today the area has developed into an attractive residential area. One of the environmental effects is a sharp decline in waste volumes for disposal, from 60-80 skips in the 1980s to about three today. In 1999 Hyldespjældet was nominated for the Nordic Council's annual Nature and Environment Award. Local Agenda 21 activities include a local waste-sorting and recycling plant, small lots leased by the residents for organic vegetables, a clothes-exchange stall, an organic café as well as experiments with toilets collecting urine to be used as manure in the fields. The driving force behind the numerous activities has been strong and dynamic solidarity
in the residential area combined with excellent coordination through Agenda Center
Albertslund and the Culture-Ecology Association of Albertslund. |
Local Agenda 21 activities take place to some extent in most of Denmark's municipalities
and counties. In 2000 the Danish parliament amended the Planning Act and imposed an
obligation on counties and municipalities to report on their Local Agenda 21 strategies at
least every four years.
Local Agenda 21 work must continue to contribute to raising awareness of the necessity to see sustainable development in a global and longterm perspective while taking local action.The more locally active citizens are, the more they will take action for more sustainable development in their day-to-day activities. Citizens and counties and municipalities must continue to support each other and expand the framework and contents of this cooperation.
The popular commitment is also supported by advice and knowledge on sustainable solutions, for example from green guides, nature guides and environment and energy offices around Denmark. Direct cooperation between NGOs and companies can also contribute to the development of sustainable solutions, for instance environmental management or the use of new biotechnology by companies.
At workplaces employees should be invited to contribute ideas and participate in restructuring plans for the promotion of sustainable development. Preliminary experience shows that this is profitable for companies, stimulates worker satisfaction and is beneficial to the community at large.
Experience from general urban renewal programmes, neighbourhood improvement, etc. shows that it is possible to make many people committed to local issues and tasks. Successful public participation depends on the existence of clearly defined cooperative relations, the achievement of visible results and the excitement of participating. In a broader perspective, we must focus on ways of ensuring that everyone participates.
A wide array of players already contribute to the Danish Agenda 21 activities, participating in processes aimed at promoting sustainable development in their individual ways and at their own level. The number of players and processes in Danish Agenda 21 activities is likely to increase in the foreseeable future up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.These contributions should be seen as an integral part of overall Danish activities.
Objectives and activities 2001-2006
Denmark will work internationally to ensure that the principles of the Aarhus Convention are employed more extensively. Both the other EU member states and the EU at large are working to implement the Convention. Denmark is campaigning in favour of committing EU institutions and procedures to the same degree of openness and transparency and to involving citizens in knowledge and decisions in the environmental field. Denmark will also take active steps to ensure that the principles of the Aarhus Convention are employed more extensively in global and international negotiations and are reflected in global and international conventions and legal instruments.The World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 will offer an excellent opportunity to examine whether the Aarhus Convention can serve as a model at the global level for applying Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on the participation of all concerned citizens in the handling of environmental issues.
Denmark will actively support the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in ratifying and implementing the Aarhus Convention and will support NGO activities in these countries. Finally, Denmark applies the principles of the Aarhus Convention to the environmental assistance Denmark grants to developing countries.
The Government will take action to ensure that citizens can participate actively in sustainable development initiatives and have access to readily comprehensible information and background knowledge. In keeping with this strategy, a set of national indicators for sustainable development will be established.
The Government will support initiatives and methods for improving citizens' possibilities of participation in decision-making processes in environmental matters. A specific area could relate to decisions to release GMOs to the environment. Citizens should also be aware of their possibilities for influencing the decision-making processes. During 2001 the Ministry of Environment and Energy will therefore conduct a campaign on the environmental rights of citizens.
Everyone should contribute to informing the general public about the impact of activities on the environment. Therefore, companies should provide information about their environmental initiatives so that citizens in the proximity of the company will know how it affects the environment and human health or uses resources. This information could come from green accounts or from companies' environmental management systems.
Local Agenda 21 activities should be further promoted. One way of doing this is to establish local indicators for sustainable development in Local Agenda 21 work. Local indicators can help shed light on the results of Local Agenda 21 work in a district or a municipality. In addition, local indicators can facilitate comparison with similar activities in other districts or municipalities or counties, thus making it possible to compare local objectives and results with national ones.The central government will intensify the work to provide guidance and inspiration and pass on experience from Local Agenda 21 strategies and activities.