What would an environmental contract for local sustainability look like?First and foremost, and as an essential minimum, it would give a role to all stakeholders passionate about sustainability.
Each local community would have a Quality of Life Forum (QLF), open to all and genuinely inclusive (1)
In terms of an environmental contract, put simply:
Citizens would engage in Quality of LIfe Forums
if
Government ensured that such engagement was properly valued, respected and resourced.
Quality of Life Forums would have a role not just in planning for sustainability (as happened via Local Agenda 21) but also in its delivery, and crucially in monitoring, evaluating and auditing this delivery - holding everyone to account.
Local Agenda 21 at its best gave a wide variety of stakeholders a tantalising first glimpse of community empowerment. If sustainability is ever to become a reality for local communities, government has at some stage to evolve beyond the limitations of representative government and embrace more participatory democracy.
The former tends to be about the words, whereas the latter, if properly inclusive, could be more about the deeds. To borrow from the title of another government initiative, Together We Can.
(1) including those as Martin suggests below who's interest may be awakening
References:
- This article was first published on the Sustainable Community Action wiki
- How can Community Strategies be turned into Sustainable Community Strategies? Phil Green, October 2005, comment article on the Sustainable Community Action wiki
See also
martin said, 04/10/2006
Phil, I am not sure that "a role to all stakeholders passionate about sustainability" is very inclusive. What about those who are "a bit concerned about" or "slightly interested in" sustainability. I suggest that you reword.
Martin