You are given a task by the mayor of your hometown to evaluate and give suggestion on how

to plan the town in accordance with Local Agenda 21. Write a brief report on your evaluation
and suggestion.

Local Sustainability means that an area is designed, built and operates in a way that
uses energy and natural resources efficiently and equitably, for both present and future
generations of humans and other species. While 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 in the local
jurisdiction or area. This requires the integration of planning and action across economic,
social and environmental spheres. Key elements are full community participation, assessment
of current conditions, target setting for achieving specific goals, monitoring and reporting.
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and
locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in
every area in which human impacts on the environment.
Some of the benefits we might get from the Local Agenda 21 plans are:

Resources are used efficiently and waste minimised.

Pollution is limited

The diversity of nature is valued and protected

Where possible, local needs are met locally

Everyone has access to good food, water, shelter and fuel at reasonable cost

Peoples good health is protected by creating safe, clean, pleasant environments and
health services which emphasize prevention of illness as well as proper care of the for
the sick.

Access to facilities, services, goods and other people is not achieved at the expense of
the environment or limited to those with cars.

People live without fear of personal violence from crime or persecution because of
their personal beliefs, race, gender or sexuality.

Places, spaces and objects combine meaning and beauty with utility. Human
Settlements in scale and form. Valuing Diversity and local distinctiveness.

Links are developed with other parts of the World.

There are many ways to operate the Local Agenda 21 and some of them are:

Internal to the local government

Local government's interaction with its citizens

External to the local government

Internal to the local government is the basic principles laid out in the Agenda 21 can

be activated by the many organizations and operations of a local government. These include
local policy and programme development; planning and management procedures in local
projects, including preparing of development plans; purchasing decisions in development and
construction of public projects; development of network (electricity, gas, water, roads) and
social (community services, education, health) infrastructure; day-to-day maintenance,
including waste collection and disposal.
A local governments' interaction with its citizens in implementing plans to realize the
goals set forth in its LA21 Plan is key to the success of the plan. Changes in urban lifestyles
have far reaching consequences, positive and negative, on the local and global environment.
Thus education and training in environmental issues; information campaigns and awareness
building - using both formal and informal channels; monitoring and evaluation - including
opinion surveys, referandums; action plans involving the civil society, for example, in the
3Rs - reduce, reuse and recycle; can be various ways in which the local government sensitizes
its citizenry towards environmental protection.
For wealthy nations, achieving sustainable development means adopting and
implementing policies concerning issues such as recycling, energy efficiency, conservation
and rehabilitation of damaged landscapes. For the developing nations it means policies for

equity, respect of the law, redistribution of wealth and wealth creation. There are six key
elements of Local Agenda 21 which are:

Managing and improving the local authority's own environmental performance

Integrating sustainable development aims into the local authority's policies and
activities

Awareness raising and education

Consulting and involving the general public

Partnerships

Measuring monitoring and reporting on progress towards sustainability

1. Managing and improving the local authority's own environmental performance

Evaluation
The involvement of multiple agencies and departments in urban management
had made it difficult to coordinate many actions and in turn affects the

effectiveness.
The various roles that are expected of these local authorities to attain a
liveable city with a high quality of living had put pressure on those authorities
to acquire a strong organisation. The pressure is left more intensely by small
and medium sized local authorities that lack finance, manpower, skills and
equipment in providing the expected services.

Suggestion

The challenges that been facing require the respective parties be more focused

in undertaking each and every responsibility in urban development.

Good urban administration and management need to take into consideration
the capability of each local authority as each local authority has differs in
terms of manpower, skills and financial capacity to provide good service for

its population.
Corporate commitment
Staff training and awareness raising
Environmental management systems

2.

Environmental budgeting
Policy integration across sectors

Integrating sustainable development aims into the local authority's policies and
activities
Elevation

The sustainable development are less in these area.

The large number of private vehicle ownership puts pressure on the capacity
of the existing road network. The inefficient public transportation resulted in
the tendency for the urban population to optimize for private vehicles instead
of the public transport. In the long term, this will have negative impact on the
competitiveness and the attraction of those cities to draw local and foreign

investors.
Rapid urban development has contributed to the degradation of environmental
quality especially the quality of water, air and noise. Many rivers which are
major sources of water have undergone degradation in water quality due to the
pollution from domestic waste, industrial effluents, suspended particulates
from soil erosion and heavy metal pollution from factories. Air pollution has
also increased due to emission from motor vehicles, industrial development
and use of non-environmental friendly products. Moreover, increased human
activity and high population density have also generated noise pollution in
urban areas.

Suggestion

The development of an urban system needs to be based on clear system of

hierarchy so that the provision and distribution of facilities and
infrastructure will be more efficient, thus, preventing wastage of national

resources.
Urban development needs to be carried specified area to ensure urban
sprawl is avoided. Towards this end, land use development should be
based on the adopted development plan and comply with all policies,
programmes and action plans proposed by the respective plans.

Urban development should be implemented in accordance with the

principles of smart growth with emphasis on redeveloping suitable areas
especially in urban centres and brown field areas for recreational purpose

and conserving environmentally sensitive areas.

Green housekeeping
Land use planning
Transport policies and programmes
Economic development
Tendering and purchase/provider splits
Housing services
Tourism and visitor strategies
Health strategies
Welfare, equal opportunities and poverty strategies
Explicitly 'environmental' services

3. Awareness raising and education

Good access to high quality public, social and cultural facilities will
contribute a great deal to the improvement of the quality of life of the
resident. The government can provide good governance by recruiting
the participation of residents in the improvement of their living

environment.
The public participation should assist in achieving sustainable
development in optimal utilisation of available resources environment,

should be promoted and enhanced.

The public should also be encouraged to adopt the 3R concept of
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Such programmes can be organised at a
neighbourhood level. The policies that have been formulated and
guidelines to be drafted, shall form the basis for a comprehensive
framework to guide, control and manage new development and

improvement works.
Support for environmental education
Awareness-raising events
Visits and talks
Support for voluntary groups
Publication of local information
Press releases
Initiatives to encourage behaviour change and practical action

4.

Consulting and involving the general public

Elevation

This element has been implemented through the area. They may
included residents/tenants associations, youth club, senior citizen
group, sports club, activity/hobby societies, environment/ conservation
organization.

Suggestions

All parties should be more innovative, transparent and efficient in

promoting and working urban development in terms of quality, healthy,

competitive and progressive.

The concept of eco-partnership, which places emphasis on the
concerted efforts of various stakeholders such as private enterprises,
various government agencies and community based and nongovernmental organisations to carry out study activities aimed at
increasing public awareness on sustainable environment, should be

promoted and enhanced.

Public consultation processes
Advocate more forums for the general public about the sustainability

and local agenda 21

Determine the focus groups to be consulted
After the consultation process had ended, starts the 'Planning for real'

process
Parish Maps
Feedback mechanisms

5. Partnerships

Having meetings, workshops and conferences

Work in groups/advisory groups
Rounds Tables to know about everybody's opinion, idea and problems
Environment City Model
Partnership initiatives
Developing-world partnerships and support

Partnerships should have concrete value addition to the implementation

process and should be new that is, not merely reflect existing

arrangements.
Partnerships should bear in mind the economic, social and
environmental dimensions of sustainable development in their design

and implementation.
Partnerships should be based on predictable and sustained resources
for their implementation, include mobilizing new resources and result

in transfer of technology.
6. Measuring monitoring and reporting on progress towards sustainability

Those who choose to register their partnership should provide

transparent, participatory and credible information and reporting,
focussing on their contribution to the implementation of goals,

objectives and targets of Local Agenda 21.

The policies that have been formulated and guidelines to be drafted,
shall form the basis for a comprehensive framework to guide, control
and manage new development and improvement works.