The
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
http://www.iclei.org/
ICLEI is the international environmental agency for local governments. ICLEI's mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global environmental and sustainable development conditions through cumulative local actions. ICLEI functions as a democratic, international association of local governments and operates as an international environmental agency for local governments. The home page features links to an Information Clearinghouse; regional Web sites; information on campaigns, projects, conferences, and events; and a variety of news and documents, including documents related to Agenda 21.
The
Izaak Walton League
http://www.iwla.org/
The Izaak Walton League is one of the oldest conservation organizations in the United States and has chapters throughout the nation. The League has over 50,000 members who are dedicated to protecting the nation's soil, air, woods, waters, and wildlife. The League's mission is to protect and use America's rich resources in a sustainable manner to ensure a high quality of life for all people, now and in the future. Its strength lies in its grassroots, common sense approach to solving local, regional, and national conservation issues. The interests of its members span the spectrum of outdoor recreation and conservation activities, from angling and birding to stream monitoring, wildlife photography, and hunting. The site features information on legislative action on conservation issues (including action alerts), environmental news and information, and education and outreach programs.
Local
Agenda 21
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/la21/la21.html
Local Agenda 21 is a local-government-led, community-wide, and participatory effort to establish a comprehensive action strategy for environmental protection, economic prosperity, and community well-being at the local level. This requires the integration of planning and action across economic, social, and environmental spheres. Key elements include full community participation, assessment of current conditions, target setting for achieving specific goals, monitoring, and reporting. Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is focused on implementing the key objective of sustainable development of Agenda 21, which must be achieved primarily through local governments and their constituent communities.
A link to UEMRI Research provides a section on "Localizing Agenda 21," which outlines a four-step process by which a LA21 plan can be developed or improved:
- Data
Collection gathers pertinent baseline information, on which future
actions are based and evaluated. This information is used to develop
a comprehensive environmental profile.
- Planning
and Development is the formative stage where the information gathered
is used to develop an environmental vision, state the goals and objectives,
and produce an environmental strategy.
- Plan
Management includes a wide range of activities that involve various
stakeholders and the community at large.
- Monitoring and Evaluation takes a critical view of the actions being taken, evaluates them against a set of indicators, and monitors the implementation of the LA21 Plan.
Each step is briefly explained, its goals and outputs indicated, and additional on-line resources included to better understand the issues and processes involved. The four steps are not mutually exclusive, and there are overlapping and cyclical activities involved.
The site also contains:
- Documents and Information Repositories on the Local Agenda 21;
- Tools and strategies for preparing a LA21 Plan;
- Description of LA21 in 20 individual cities around the world.
Fondazione
Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)
http://www.feem.it/
FEEM is a non-profit, non-partisan research institution established to carry out research in the field of sustainable development. One of its principal aims as a leading international research center is to promote interaction among academic, industrial, and public-policy spheres to comprehensively address concerns about economic development and environmental degradation.
The Fondazione's activities are guided by four fundamental goals:
- To analyze relevant and innovative research areas;
- To focus on real world issues;
- To integrate multi-disciplinary approaches;
- To create and foster international research networks.
FEEM supplies technical support and advice for the public and private decision-making processes in the economic and environmental field, at the national as well as international level. This is done through the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of the Environment; the Treasury; and expert groups under the umbrellas of the EU, the OECD, the United Nations, the UN Commission of Sustainable Development, the IPCC, etc.
FEEM sponsors the "European Awareness Scenario Workshops" (EASW), which is linked to their Web page. The EASW is part of the European Commission's Innovation Program, which works in collaboration with the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign on two main goals:
- Assessing the transferability of best practices between different cultural and political contexts, including identification of conditions for success;
- Identification and further development of instruments and tools to support know-how transfer processes.
FEEM's multi-lingual Web page also includes a link to the Global Network of Environmental Economists (GNEE), a virtual network whose aim is to assist researchers, policymakers, academics, and environmentalists from all countries exchange views and information for the purpose of sharing and increasing knowledge, promoting co-operation, and improving quality and effectiveness of research in environmental economics.
Through GNEE, information is offered on current research programs; conferences, workshops, and seminars; research funds; web sites with interesting information on environmental economics; and links to research centers and public institutions. Working papers, reference lists, and databases can be downloaded from the Web site.
return to top | back to resources menu page