Problem overview:

     Awareness and vision: Beijing Agenda 21 is another effort by China to decentralize sustainable policy making from the central government to local or provincial governments. Beijing is the first province to have its own local Agenda 21 along with action plants, other provinces are undergoing similar formats.

     Framework for coordination: Much coordination is needed for developing local sustainable development strategy otherwise these strategies might not coincide with national policies.

Background in summary:

     Chronology: Sustainable development has become an inevitable choice in the coming 21st century for the coordinated development of economy, society and environment.

     1994 Beijing was selected as one of the pilot cities on integrating China's Agenda 21.

     1995 The "Beijing Municipal Leading Group for Implementing China's Agenda 21" was set up with responsibility to lead, organize and coordinate the related activities on sustainable development.

     1996 Initiation of Beijing Municipality: Addressing Key Agenda 21 SHD Issues project cooperated with UNDP to carry out sustainable development and capacity building.

     Projects and activities: Through carrying out these projects, Beijing can also increase capacity in incorporating sustainable development strategies into policy, plan and legislation. Furthermore, Beijing has launched great activities of advocating sustainable development, thus pushing forward the public participation and enhancing the awareness and capacity of sustainable development for all level people in Beijing.

     Action plan: The China's Agenda 21-Beijing's Action Plan" (hereafter referred to as "Action Plan") can help to make sure that the state economy and social development plan and overall plan on city construction will meet the demand of coordination with the development of population, resources and environment.

     The Action Plan will cover 6 areas including:

• General Strategy of Beijing Sustainable Development,
  
  
• Economy, Society and Urban Sustainable Development,
  
  
• Resource Sustainable Use, and
  
  
• Ecological Environment Protection.

See also Provincial and Local Agenda 21s: Beijing

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	-	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		-	Participation of the community
3	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	-	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	1	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
3	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
2	Style of government adaptability.	-	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	-	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:   Sustainability of the project:      Awareness and visions: Setting up a pilot project in Beijing will surely help increase the awareness for local sustainable development policies in other provinces as well. Adaptability of the project to other situations:       Most urban areas are faced with similar problems and are co-operating nationally and internationally with other cities to share experiences and solutions. Beijing would be a good study case in terms of successes and failures. However, for areas non-urban or suburban areas some adjustments when integrating sustainable development into planning may be required, because of the differences in social structure, economic activity and governance. Process of decision making and implementation:      Framework for coordination: Coordination is one important factor in determining the success of developing local sustainable development polices because sustainable development is a new area that local policy makers might not have proper understanding regarding the subject. The central government, along with International organizations would assist local governments by providing various training or capacity building programs in order to acknowledge local governments of how to establish local sustainable development policies.      Coordination with information providers is also very important. Often that private institutes or non-governmental organizations or academia will be providing supporting information for decision-making, such as, environmental data. Therefore, coordination with the non-governmental sectors are also necessary. Cost efficiency: