What is Agenda 21 or Agenda 21? The concept of Program 21 It was created at the World Conference on the Environment and Sustainable Development organized by the United Nations in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 1992, also known as the Earth Summit. It was about supporting initiatives that would build a sustainable development model for the 21st century, hence its name. In Green Ecologist, we explain a summary about what is Agenda 21 and what are its objectives.
Why was Agenda 21 or Agenda 21 created?
The UN Agenda 21 was signed by 172 member countries of the United Nations. These countries commit to apply environmental, economic and social policies at the local level aimed at achieving sustainable development. Each region or each locality, for its part, develops its own Local Agenda 21, in which citizens, companies and social organizations should participate, with the aim of generating and agreeing on a program of sustainable policies.
The UN Agenda 21 could be defined as a global strategy that is put into practice locally and that involves all sectors of a community: social, cultural, economic and environmental. It is, in short, a commitment to improving the environment and, therefore, the quality of life of the inhabitants of a community, municipality or region.
Here are the principles and objectives of Agenda 21 o Agenda 21, general and local.
Goals of the UN Agenda 21
In principle, Agenda 21 or Agenda 21 must consider three aspects: environmental sustainability, social justice and economic balance. All of them depend on citizen participation. Agenda 21 is not possible without the participation of citizens, although effectively encouraged by the public powers and the different public or private associations.
There are many topics covered and the objectives of Agenda 21. Regarding the themes and objectives of the UN Agenda 21 more strictly environmental are, among others:
- The protection of the atmosphere.
- Planning and management of land resources.
- The fight against deforestation.
- The fight against desertification and drought.
- The sustainable development of mountain areas.
- The promotion of agriculture and rural sustainable development.
- The conservation of biological diversity.
- The protection of the oceans and seas, as well as coastal areas.
- The quality and supply of freshwater resources.
- The rational management of toxic chemicals.
- Management of hazardous waste, whether radioactive or not.
- Solid waste management.
As we can see, any community can launch its own Local Agenda 21 as long as the participation of the social forces that compose it is achieved. Next, we will explain the methodology and the basic principles of Local Agenda 21 when implementing it in a specific territory.
Principles of Local Agenda 21
Now that we have seen the objectives of Agenda 21, we comment that there are different procedures that are recommended when it comes to apply the most basic principles of Local Agenda 21:
- Political compromise: sign the documents such as the Aalborg commitment or create a Local Declaration of Sustainability which, as a symbolic act, is a political commitment to the objectives of Agenda 21 or Agenda 21.
- Citizen participation: create instruments so that citizens can participate in the preparation and drafting of documents.
- Diagnosis: of the sustainability issues facing that particular community.
- Elaboration of actions: design the plan, objectives and strategies to improve the diagnosed problems.
- Execution: of the actions foreseen in the previous plan.
- Evaluation: and follow-up of the plan and if the objectives have been met.
This, written like this on the paper, seems to be very easy. However, time and experience have shown us that in order for the objectives of the Local Agenda 21 there needs to be:
- That there is stable political support.
- That the designed plan has the necessary financial support.
- That there is active citizen participation and collaboration.
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