1 - 8 DEMONSTRATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21S IN CHINA

¡¡

1. Project Summary and Relationship to China's Agenda 21

This project aims to increase the capacity of Chinese cities to formulate and implement sustainable development strategies and action plans through training, information and personnel exchange, networking, and demonstration projects in representative and replicable pilot cities drawn from China's eastern, middle, and western regions.

The project is based on programme areas 2A and 6A of China's Agenda 21, and is related to programme areas 5A, 6C, 10A, 10B and 10C.

¡¡

2. Background

China's economy has developed rapidly since the 1980s, with an annual increase in GNP of 9%. At the same time, the rate of urban population growth was 4.73%, and the level of urbanisation reached 29% in 1995. It is predicted that by the year 2000, the urban population will have reached 450 million and the urbanisation level 35%. With urbanisation, cities will play a more and more important role in social and economic life. By the end of 1994, 69.5% of GDP was created by cities, which cover 16.9% of land area and employ 43.7% of the working population of the whole country.

However, the rapid economic growth and increase in urban population have caused serious environmental problems, especially in cities which have a population of 350 million and most industrial areas. The long-term urban environmental problems facing Chinese cities include: drinking water shortage, insufficient wastewater treatment facilities, severe air pollution, accumulation of solid wastes (including hazardous waste), traffic congestion, land degradation and contamination, decrease of green coverage and worsening noise pollution.

Confronted with the ever-growing population and economy, municipal governments are bearing more and more responsibility for furnishing urban environmental services. On the other hand, they lack necessary regulatory, institutional, financial, and managerial capacity. As a result, inter-departmental co-operation which is essential to municipal sustainable development is severely constrained. Therefore, capacity building for urban environmental management has become a priority.

China's Agenda 21 has provided principles and strategic rationale for establishing local sustainable development strategies. The policies of openness and reform in China has greatly advanced economic and social development, accelerated the urbanisation and increased local autonomy. Thus Local Agenda 21s (LA21s) is essential to the realisation of China's sustainable development. However, China is a large country with large disparities in terms of economic development between the eastern coastal areas and middle-western areas. The implementation of sustainable development strategy must be tailored to local conditions.

At present, the implementation of China's Agenda 21 has begun across the country. The strategy of sustainable development has been designated as one of the two national strategies towards the 21st century. Many provinces and municipalities have established respective Leading Groups for China's Agenda 21 and have sought to integrate China's Agenda 21 into the Ninth Five-Year Plan and the Long-term Targets for the Year 2010. Some UN organisations and bilateral donors have assisted several Chinese cities in initiating Local Agenda 21s through training and advisory activities. All these have laid a good foundation for establishing Local Agenda 21s in China.

¡¡

3. Objectives

3.1 Long-term Objective

To enhance technological, institutional, and financial capacities of Chinese cities to formulate and implement sustainable development strategies and action plans.

3.2 Immediate Objectives

• To establish a network of LA21 pilot cities and to strengthen exchange and co-operation among pilot cities, between central and local governments, public and private sectors, and among local governmental departments;
• To upgrade the capacity of pilot cities to mobilise, allocate and utilise human, technological and financial resources for implementing sustainable development strategies;
• To compile implementation guidelines, training materials and case studies for LA21s in China.

¡¡

4. Outputs and Activities

4.1 Four pilot cities for LA21s are selected from China's eastern, middle and western regions respectively, on the bases of progress survey, needs assessment, public awareness and local commitment.

• To establish a Project Office of LA21s (3-4 personnel), which will be based in the Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21 ( ACCA21 );
• To select 3-5 cities in each province and municipalities under the State Council for a questionnaire survey on the development status, organisational structure, training needs, future plans and commitment to LA21s, and to draft a summary report;
• To organise a two-day workshop on LA21s to consult relevant ministries, local governments, academic institutes, non-governmental organisations and enterprises on the selection criteria for pilot cities and the implementation plan of this project;
• To select 4 pilot cities in the eastern, middle and western areas respectively, and to establish corresponding LA21 management offices in each pilot city.

Monitoring Indicators: A summary report on the progress of and needs for LA21s, a pilot city network of LA21 with 12 member cities.

Implementating Agency: ACCA21

Time Schedule: January 1997 - June 1997

4.2 LA21 or action plans in each pilot city

• To assess current plans, regulations, policies and the institutional structure in each pilot city;
• To draw up and update regularly a city Profile on Sustainable Development through widespread consultation and involvement of stakeholders;
• To organise a series of training courses and workshops, and to launch city-wide public campaigns, taking the local characteristics of each pilot city into full consideration;
• To set priorities for sustainable development and formulate LA21 or action plans.

Monitoring Indicators: a city profile on sustainable development, five training courses or workshops annually, two public campaigns on sustainable development every year, and LA21 or action plans in each pilot city.

Implementing Agencies: The 12 pilot cities

Time Schedule: July 1997 - June 1998

4.3 Implementation of LA21s or action plans

• To formulate and revise policies and regulations on sustainable development in the pilot cities, to improve the co-ordination and co-operation between local government departments, and to improve information exchange and sharing;
• To identify and screen technical assistance and investment project proposals, and to compile an inventory of priority projects for LA21;
• To implement a demonstration project which will be jointly identified and funded by the pilot city and ACCA21;
• Mobilise financial and technical resources from local governments, the private sector, and external sources to implement LA21 or action plans.

Monitoring Indicators: over 50% of the decision-makers of local governments and key enterprises trained on the concept of sustainable development, over 50% of the priority projects implemented by 2000.

Implementing Agencies: ACCA21 and the 12 pilot cities.

Time Schedule: January 1998 - December 1999

4.4 Information and personnel exchange among the pilot cities

• To publish and widely distribute a bimonthly Newsletter of LA21s in China;
• To provide e-mail services to pilot cities through China's Sustainable Development Network, and to establish a WWW home page on Local Agenda 21s in China;
• To organise interns and other personnel exchange between the pilot cities and at ACCA21, and to carry out a two-week out-of-country study tour or a three-week overseas training every year;
• To hold an annual LA21 meeting in a selected pilot city to exchange experiences, to monitor progress, and to review the work plans for the next year;
• To hold an international symposium on Local Agenda 21s in China to publicise the experience of pilot cities both at home and abroad.

Monitoring Indicators: 2000 copies of each newsletter distributed across China, 24 interns each year, 12 in-country study tours, 30 persons attending the overseas study tour and training.

Implementing Agencies: ACCA21 and the goverments of the 12 pilot cities.

Time Schedule: July 1997 - December 1999

4.5 Development and application of municipal sustainable development indicators

• To review the outcomes of domestic and international researches on sustainable development indicators, and to formulate the core indicators on sustainable development for Chinese cities;
• To hold a workshop attended by domestic and foreign experts, representatives from relevant ministries and pilot cities, and to revise the core indicators on sustainable development;
• To establish a working group on sustainable development indicators in each pilot city, and to collect and analyse relevant data;
• To prepare and widely distribute a monitoring report for each pilot city every half a year on the basis of the framework of sustainable development indicators, and submit it to ACCA21;
• To draft a final report on China sustainable development indicators at the municipal level, on the basis of two and a half year research and practices.

Monitoring Indicators: a monitoring report every half a year in each pilot city, a final research report on China sustainable urban development indicators.

Implementing Agencies: the goverments of the 12 pilot cities and ACCA21.

Time Schedule: July 1997 - December 1999

4.6 Training and public education materials for LA21.

• To develop a training package for LA21 based on the results of the training needs survey and other relevant domestic and foreign training materials, which cover such subjects as public participation, setting of priorities, formulation of action plans, monitoring and evaluation, draft of priority project proposals, etc.;
• To revise the training package, based on the feed-backs of the training in pilot cities;
• To produce or translate video materials about LA21;
• To compile case studies of Local Agenda 21s both at home and abroad.

Monitoring Indicators: Training materials for LA21, two 30-minute video tapes per year, and a compendium of case studies of sustainable development per year.

Implementing Agency: ACCA21

Time Schedule: January 1997 - December 1999

¡¡

5. Inputs

5.1 Chinese Inputs

Chinese inputs will be mainly used for salaries of Chinese staff, office and training facilities, counterpart funding for domestic experts, demonstration projects, and daily operations of the management offices.

5.2 International Inputs

International inputs will be mainly used for the recruitment of international and domestic experts, who are experienced in implementing LA21, and overseas training and study tours, office and training equipment, and some equipment for demonstration projects.

5.3 Budget

The total budget needed for this project is US$ 6.1 million. The Chinese side will raise US$ 3.4 million from domestic sources, while the international sources will cover US$ 2.7 million.

¡¡

Table 1. Budget by Item (in million US dollars)

¡¡

Table 2. Budget by Output (in million US dollars)

¡¡

6. Benefits

The direct beneficiaries of this project include around 2,400 persons of local governments and other organisations who will attend the training and workshops. The 12 pilot cities will share experiences and lessons, will formulate practical LA21 or action plans which are tailored to the local situation, and will mobilise technical and financial resources for implementing the priority projects. The training package, practical guidelines, case studies and other public education materials to be generated by this project will be used by other Chinese cities. In addition, the experiences and lessons gained will also be referenced by other cities.

¡¡

7. Risks

The selected pilot cities may not have adequate technical and financial resources, which leads to over-reliance on external assistance. This risk can be minimised through a careful selection of appropriate pilot cities and through provision of training to the local needs.

Lack of support by senior leaders and insufficient participation of the enterprises and the public is another major risk. This can be reduced by training the senior leaders in the pilot cities and by establishing effective channels for public participation throughout the LA21 process.

Text Browser Utilities: |Back| |ACCA21 Home|