Local Government and Sustainable Development/Post-5

Recommendations for future strategic actions

The central government should develop new regulation to incorporate SD policies across government ensuring strong, clear and steady message on SD, producing a ‘practical guide’ or ‘toolkit’ ( SDC 2012,16) to link SD to local government. It would also help launch a cross- govt. communication group on SD to ‘exchange ideas and practices’ and improve campaigning to ‘sell SD to local government’ (SDC 2006, 16).

All concerned departments must reflect how KPIs and other targets can be restructured and bonded across government to help bring the Govt.’s SD goals into reality; and independent organizations (such as Australian Local government Association and Sustainable Development Commission and the like in different countries) need to consider how the SD processes best take into account the crucial issues incorporating SD into major policies and make the best communications with local governments.

The relevant departments should examine the key policies to measure how far SD is cohesive with them and analyze how they can work with local government to improve ‘new SD policy initiatives’ (SDC 2006, 17). Further, collecting and sharing good practice, contact with local government officials and councilors, coordination with central government officials will be of great help.

It is accepted that both the central and the local governments lack necessary skills and knowledge. The national government must think of capacity building of ‘policy officials’ and implementing officials at all levels of governments to address the SD issues particularly connected to LG. It is felt that government should provide  ‘SD-proofing/ local government –proofing’ training to ‘high -level officials’ ( SDC 2006,13) to increase consciousness and understanding of SD .

Further, it is required that local government must be involved from the very beginning of the SD policy process with   necessary ‘communication materials’ (SDC 2006, 14). We also need to improve ‘feedback mechanisms’ and ‘two –way dialogue mechanism’ , either it be through Local Government Associations or through national  government secretariat or a ‘new forum’  (SDC 2006,14)to facilitate dialogues between different levels of government. It would help resolution of conflicts arisen on the SD policy issue shortly.

            In addition, it is required build ‘local government practitioner pools’ to reach the SD policy issue at desired position because practitioners are capable to bounce the ideas off when it is discarded by the opponents ( SDC 2006,14).

 It is imperative to have some collaboration between the state /central government and the  Local Government Associations( LGAs);and  the  community  people  should   participate  in  decision-making  and  implementation  of sustainability policies ; and  the  LGAs must be  given   autonomy to such a level that they can  choose development projects for their communities.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be said that there is a significant role for the local government in promising sustainable consumption, encouraging conversion to sustainable lifestyles, finding sustainable source of revenues and means of support, and improving the present situation of environment. The challenges that may appear while making positive change need more’ engagement with the local government through the channel of distributed governance’ ( Bakshi 2012,14) .

Bibliography:

Bakshi, SK 2012,  Role of local governments in fostering the transition to sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods and improved well-being,Global Research Forum on Sustainable Consumption and Production Workshop, June 13-15, 2012, Rio de Janiero,  [online ] Available at: <http//grf-spc.weebly.com/…kapur.pdf>, Accessed 25/05/2015

Benedict,MA &McMahon ET 2006, Green Infrastructure, Island Press, [online] Available at: <http://islandpress.org/green-infrastructure>

Berwick , M 1998,National Local Government  Biodiversity Strategy, Australian Local Government Association ( ALGA) and Biological Diversity Advisory Council ( BDAC),  [online] Available at https://www.cbd.int/doc/nbsap/sbsap/au-sbsap-strategy-en.pdf,Accessed 20/06/2015

Commission on Sustainable Development 1999, Tourism And Sustainable Development Sustainable Tourism: A Local Authority Perspective, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Background Paper # 3, Seventh Session,19-30 April 1999, New York, [Online] , Available at <:http://www.gdrc.org/uem/eco-tour/iclei.pdf>, Accessed, 18/06/2015

Feiock,  RC&  Coutts, C  2013 ,Guest Editors’ Introduction: Governing the Sustainable City ,[online] Available  at: https://localgov.fsu.edu/publication_files/essays/Feiock&%20Coutts%20Governing%20the%20Sustainable%20City.pdf

Gibson, N 2005, Communicating sustainable development to local government: A sustainable local future, [online] Available at :<http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/.....local-and- regional-government.html> Accessed 24/05/2015

Hawkins, CV &Wang, XH 2013 ‘Policy Integration for Sustainable Development and the Benefits of Local Adoption’,Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, Vol.15, No.1   , pp. 63-82   

 

Hawkins, CV &   Wang, XH 2011, Economic Development and Sustainable Cities,    [online] Available at: http://localgov.fsu.edu/workshops/sustainability/papers/symposium%20paper%20Hawkins.pdf,Accessed26/05/15

Hasan, SM 2013, Organizational Culture and Participation in Local Governance: A study on Infrastructure Projects under LGSP in Bangladesh, unpublished Thesis, MA in Governance and Development, IGS, BRAC University

HM Government 2005, Securing the future: delivering UK sustainable development strategy, [online] Available at:https://www.google.com/search?q=+securing+the+future+UK+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8>Accessed24/05/2015

ICLEI 2015, Local Government for Sustainability, [online] Available at :<http://www.iclei.org/our-activities.html ,> Accessed 26/05/2015.

Krause,RM,Feiock, RC&Hawkins , CV  2013 ,Pressure, Capacity and Institutions: Explaining the Administrative Organization of Sustainability within Local Governance,Prepared for :Public Management Research Conference  [online ] Available at:<http://www.union.wisc.edu/pmra ...../pressure/capacity//..Governance>, Accessed 18/06/2015

Kingsley, BS 2008,’Making it Easy to Be Green: Using Impact Fees to Encourage’, Green Building, 83 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 532, 537 (2008), [online] Available at: http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-83-2-Kingsley.pdf

Keen,MMahanty,S &Sauvage,J 2006 ‘Sustainability Assessment and Local Government: Achieving Innovation through Practitioner Networks’,Local EnvironmentVol. 11, No. 2, pp.201– 216.

Ognonna, C  O &Igbojekwe , PA 2013,  Local Government And Responses To Sustainable  Tourism Development In Nigeria: A Study of  Local Government Authorities In Imo State, [online] Available at<http://www.ijbts-journal.com/images/main_1366796758/0053-Ognonna.pdf>Accesed, 19/06/2015

Plummer,R 2005 ‘A review of sustainable development implementation through local action from an ecosystem management perspective’, Journal of Rural and Tropical Public Health, Vol.4, No.44, pp. 33-40

Roseland, M 1992,Toward sustainable communities: a resource book for municipal and local governments, Ottawa, Ontario: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, [online] Available at

<:https://books.google.com.au/books….Roseland,+M+1992,Toward+sustainable+communities:+a+resource+book+for+municipal+and+local+governments,Accessed 20/06/15

Sustainable Development Commission 2006, Inspiring a sustainable local future, A report on a Cross-Government master class & workshop on communicating clear sustainable development messages to local government, held on 1st December 2005 ,[online], Available at:(http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/local-and-regional-government.html , Accessed  24/04/2015)

Saha, D  2009 ‘Empirical research on local government sustainability efforts in the USA: gaps in the current literature’  Local Environment, Vol.14, No.1, pp.17 — 30

United States Environmental Protection Agency 2008, Using incentives to promote green building practices,summary notes from the “Incentives for Green Development Working Meeting" Thursday, July 31, ... Publisher, U.S. Environmental Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency 2008, Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure Action Strategy, [online] Available at:<http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/upload/gi_action_strategy.pdf>Accessed 20/06/2015

USEPA  2011 , Energy-Efficient Product Procurement :A Guide to Developing and Implementing  Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs, Local Government Climate And Energy Strategy Series,[ online] Available at:http://epa.gov/statelocalclimate/documents/pdf/energyefficientpurchasing.pdf

Waheduzzaman 2010, People’s Participation for Good Governance: A study of Rural Development Program in Bangladesh ,PhD Thesis, Victoria University, Australia,[online] Available at

: <http://vuir.vu.edu.au/16003/1/Thesis_3619041_Waheduzzaman.pdf>Acessed 21/06/2015

Local Government and Sustainable Development/Post-4

Sustainability and Local Government

Within academic world and professional groups, there is agreement on the necessity for local governments to formulate and implement policies that are concerned with “sustainability”(Leuengerger and Bartle 2010, cited in Hawkins and Wang 2013, 63).Sustainable development  has been regarded as  a ‘guiding principle for local growth policies’  that changed from an attention  on  environmental questions to a more ‘integrated approach that consists of environmental, economic, and societal dimensions’ (Fiorino, 2010, cited in Hawkins and Wang 2013, 63,). 
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Sustainability from local government standpoint links human needs with environmental safety and is largely acknowledged as including socio-economic and environmental constituents (Krause,Feiock& Hawkins  2013).These three components have been  applied widely to structure research on local sustainability in multiple subjects, comprising public administration and policy ( Feiock and Coutts 2013 ;Bulkeley 2013; Krause,Feiock& Hawkins  2013).

Local governments are distinctively located to initiate a variety of activities that openly address sustainability and climate change. They also have mechanisms to address land use, energy efficiency, ecological-conservation, and carbon emissions through their role in ‘regulation and service delivery’.  However, in their struggles to do so, they have to face ‘challenges of scale, policy instrument design, and governance’ (Feiock and Coutts, 2013 ,4).

To spread the application of sustainability practices, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) approved Agenda 21 in 1992 as a ‘blueprint’ for environmentally sustainable growth. It inspires participation of UN member states to think through the environmental effects of their land, resources, and transportation improvement strategies (Krause,Feiock& Hawkins 2013).

Local government is crucial to successful sustainability practices. Of the 2,509 actions recognized in Agenda 21 to attain superior sustainability, almost two -thirds  stress on the active involvement of local government (Keen, Mahanty, and Sauvage, 2006; Krause,Feiock& Hawkins 2013). The role of local government requires taking responsibility ‘for introducing, interpreting, adapting and eventually implementing the most relevant aspects of Agenda 21 for their local communities” (UNCED 1992, 74; cited Saha 2009, 21).

To be continued-

Posted by-

S.M. Mehedi Hasan

BCS (Administration)

ID- 16194

27th Batch

Upazila Nirbahi Officer

Kishoreganj, Nilphamari

Bangladesh

Local Government and Sustainable Development/Post-3

Significance of LG to make Progress towards SD

Local government is  the ‘key unit for environmental care’ ( Roseland 1992,14) and the next-door level of government to the people, recognizes people’s real necessities, and respond to those needs faster and better than other national and sub-national governments; which ultimately would help engage in sustainability programs ( Bakshi 2012,14).Since local governments are local, they have power to ‘promote civic pride and leadership ‘and guarantee ‘local democracy’ (Selman 1991, cited in Plummer 2005, 36) playing a significant role in promoting sustainable development.

Further, the role of the   cities in the developed industrialized countries ‘deserves much more scrutiny in the context of human settlements and the environmental crisis’ because of their massive impact on the changing ecosystem of the earth(Roseland 1992,22).The ecological preference in sustainability measures need to be reflected in how local governments consider and change sustainability strategies.

A greater role of local government in sustainability debate is not amazing because a greater amount of the world’s production, consumption and waste generation happen in urban zones. Therefore, though the national and international discussion on sustainable development is essential, the “rubber hits the road” at the local level (Saha 2010, 17).

Local government ensures direct people’s participation being nearer to their residents as contrasting to the state or federal government and more aloof from influential ‘lobbies’ playing a significant part in determining ‘national priorities’ (Newman and Kenworthy1999, Saha 2010,20 ). Given these causes, local government   is likely to resolve environmental crises and can innovate new methods to sustainable development (Roseland 1992, p. 22).

Local action also increases the effectiveness of ‘trans-boundary decisions’, manages common properties to reach ‘economies of scale’ and decreases the transaction cost of the sustainability programs (Feiock and Coutts, 2013 ,2) Local networks and institutions are required to manage ‘the co-benefits of sustainability’ to improve positive externalities and deliver probable institutional devices to reduce negative externalities (Feiock and Coutts, 2013 ,2).

Wang, Hawkins, Lebredo and Berman (2012) suggest that management of sustainability efforts dependent on the local background can highlight the interrelationships amongst greater number of variables. For instance, water quality  care in an environmental department, infrastructure facility in a public works department, and land development schemes sponsored by an economic development office all rightly influence sustainability.

Further, a sustainable local economy increases human welfare and social equity, reduces environmental risks and shortage of natural resource ensures resource efficiency, low-carbon emission and socially responsible behavior (ICLEI 2015). It gives priority to an economy that generates jobs in green-growth businesses, encourages investment in clean technologies, innovative entrepreneurship and skills which are required to build sustainable cities (ICLEI 2015). Again, by undertaking inventive and sustainable procurement, local and regional governments guarantee that tax revenues are consumed correctly and that public purchasing power gets highest environmental and social benefits locally (ICLEI 2015).

Local governments are observed to have a strong interest in SD for different reasons. Growth can be powerfully tied to economic well-being of LGs and development improves the provision of satisfactory public services, encourages private sector investment, increases job opportunities, and ‘diversifies the local employment base’ (Hawkins and Wang 2013).

Local governance can   ‘link actors in networks’ and make institutions, or rules, for how local policy is framed and regulated, develop devices to lessen ‘collective action dilemmas’ among local governments (Feiock and Coutts, 2013,4).Wang, Hawkins, Lebredo and Berman (2012) suggest that management of sustainability efforts dependent on the local background can highlight the interrelationships amongst greater number of variables. For instance, water quality care in an environmental department, infrastructure facility in a public works department, and land development schemes sponsored by an economic development office all rightly can influence sustainability.