Problem overview:
Awareness and visions: Not all countries in the Region have established Agenda 21 visions for the future, and of those that have, not many of them are fully integrated with local government or the private sector. China made a dedicated effort to assure that all segments of its society shared a common, integrated vision.
Training and educational initiatives: The government of China along with UNDP have assisted local governments in establishing their own local Agenda 21s through various training programs, for example, the Capacity Building for Local Agenda 21 in China program.
Background in summary:
Local authorities are formulating their Agenda 21s:
A series of efforts have been made to carry out sustainable development strategies by the local authorities and remarkable progress has been achieved. Up till now, 25 of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have organised their respective Leading Groups and established working offices for implementing their Local Agenda 21.
Provinces with local Agenda 21s or Action Plans:
- Agenda 21 of Sichuan (the most populous province in China),
- Agenda 21 of Shanxi (a coal-rich province), and
- Action Plan for Implementing China's Agenda 21 in Guizhou -Challenge Against Poverty (the poorest province of the country).
See document in full
Good practice rating:
(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score) |
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Sustainability
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Efficiency
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| 1 |
 Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other. |
1 |
Cost efficient. |
| 1 |
Sustainable over time (not one-off) |
Process |
| Adaptability |
2 |
Participation of the community |
| 1 |
Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?) |
1 |
Participation of resource owners/users |
| 1 |
Socio-cultural adaptability. |
1 |
Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private) |
| 2 |
Level of development adaptability. |
1 |
Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments. |
| 2 |
Style of government adaptability. |
1 |
Ability to attract political interest/support |
| 1 |
Degree of decentralization adaptability. |
1 |
Procedures for feedback and review. |
Comments on this example:
Training and educational initiatives:
UNDP in China had organized a Capacity Building program for local level authorities in which many provincial bodies participated. Other training programs were to provide local authorities with experiences from the development of local Agenda 21 in other countries.
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Sustainability of the project:
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Awareness and visions:
Agenda 21 is certainly a countrys vision on how to establish sustainable development policies by incorporating environmental and economic considerations together. Once national visions have been determined, those visions should be passed on to local level authorities in order to have a unified vision through out the country but in the same time the visions must be location specific as well.
It is best to have provincial level government bodies develop their own Agenda 21s since they are directly affected by changes in local environmental conditions, they would be able to understand how to deal with such problems better and would be able to respond to changes quicker than the central government.
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Adaptability of the project to other situations:
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Virtually any country could create local Agenda 21 but the necessity for it should be considered carefully. It is necessary for China to have local Agenda 21 because the country is large in size and disperse in geographical, climatic, socio-cultural characteristic. Hence, one overall Agenda 21 might not be applicable throughout the country.
Countries that are smaller in size and have similar environmental, economic, climatic, socio-cultural characteristics throughout the country might not have the necessity for local Agenda 21 because one uniform vision could be adopted throughout the country.
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Documentation: |
Literature or other written project review references
Capacity Building for Integrating China's Agenda 21 into its Economic and Social Development Plans
(Project No.: CPR/93/G81)
UNDP China
Website: http://www.edu.cn/undp/ccp/cp3/
cp3-g81.htm
Local Agenda 21 Survey
A Study of Response by Local Authorities and their National
and International Associations to Agenda 21
February 1997
Prepared by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives in Cooperation with United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development.
Website: http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr/rio/focus/report/
english/la21_rep.htm
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Source of Information: |
The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21
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Contacts: |
The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21
Ms. Duan Liping
Tel: 0086-10-62610332
Fax: 0086-10- 62588127
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Submitted by: |
Mr. Chen Yuxiang
Deputy Director
The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21
Beijing, China
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