Report on local sustainability of the Basque Autonomous Community 2008

REPORT ON LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BASQUE GOVERNMENT

Technical Secretariat

c ihobe 2009 PUBLISHED BY: Public Society of Environmental Management, IHOBE, S.A. CONTENT PREPARATION: This document has been prepared by Ihobe together

with the consultant team Minuartia Enea PHOTOS: Mikel Arrazola © Archives “Argazki” Eusko Jaurlaritza - Basque Government DESIGN: Artentraç TRANSLATION: Elhuyar LEGAL DEPOSIT:

Printed on recycled paper and whitened without chlorine

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

It is forbidden to reproduce, store in information retrieval systems and transmit any part of this publication, whatever the means used –electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, etc.- without the approval of the holder of the intellectual property rights and the publisher.

BASQUE GOVERNMENT

Technical Secretariat

REPORT ON LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY (2008) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. GENERAL FRAMEWORK AND CONTEXT Deployment of Local Agenda 21 in the BAC A model of common management of Local Agenda 21 Observatory of Local Sustainability of the BAC

2. IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21

Characteristics of Local Action Plans General implementation of the Local Action Plans

3. ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS Contribution to The Aalborg Commitments Implementation of the Local Action Plan by thematic fields State and trends in local sustainability and efficiency of policies

2

5

7

4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND TRANSVERSALITY OF PROCESSES

14

5. OUTCOME AND CHALLENGES

16

6. UDALSAREA 21: DEPLOYMENT OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ACTION

19

Internal coordination and transversality of processes of the Local Agenda 21 Citizen participation

1

GENERAL FRAMEWORK AND CONTEXT The Report on Local Sustainability (RLS) of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) is an initiative of Udalsarea 21, the Basque Network of Municipalities for Sustainability. Its aim is to assess the implementation of the Local Action Plans of the Local Agenda 21 (LA21) and the evolution of local sustainability indicators yearly.

The RLS is a document prepared within the framework of the Local Sustainability Observatory of the BAC of Udalsarea 21, a network consisting of 197 Basque municipalities and the whole Basque supramunicipal public administrations: Basque Government, Provincial Councils and the Basque Municipalities Association EUDEL. This document summarizes the most remarkable aspects contained in the Reports on Local Sustainability of the BAC of 2007 and 2008, which shall continue in the middle of this year with the edition for 2009.

Deployment of Local Agenda 21 in the BAC The 2nd Environmental Framework Programme of the BAC (2007-2010) sets and acknowledges the Local Agenda 21 as the key articulation instrument for the environmental improvement and deployment of the programme from a local basis.

At the beginning of 2009, the number of municipalities having Local Action Plans of LA21 is 218, therefore an 86.9% of the total Basque municipalities. In terms of population, it means that the 98.8% of BAC inhabitants live in a municipality with LA21.

In order to make the implementation of this model easier, Udalsarea 21 has defined a common methodology and developed the computer application MUGI 21 for the integrated management of the LA21, installed in more th an 150 municipalities within the network. This makes possible a more effective management of the process, as well as the further integration of data, extracting averages and comparisons between municipalities and the analysis of time evolution.

Municipalities with LA21 belonging to Udalsarea 21 Municipalities with LA21

Municipalities without LA21 Figure 1.

Distribution of municipalities with Local Agenda 21 and belonging to Udalsarea 21

Observatory of Local Sustainability of the BAC In its second Strategic Plan (2006/2009), Udalsarea 21 emphasizes its “Quality Commitment”, to be articulated by means of the “assessment and improvement in processes and proceedings requirable to all its members”.

A model of common management of Local Agenda 21

In tune with this commitment, a group of proceedings is

The Local Action Plans (LAP) must be effective mana-

of yearly programs to help calculate sustainability indica-

gement instruments for municipalities. With this aim,

tors and to assess Local Action Plans in municipalities.

set. Among them, in the first place, the implementation

a common deployment model is set from Udalsarea 21.

This model includes the following tasks constituting a yearly cycle of management of Local Action Plans:

· PLANNING of proceedings · PERFORMANCE of proceedings · ASSESSMENT of the IMPLEMENTATION of the Local

Action Plan

· Calculation of SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS

SCOPE OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESSES OF LOCAL ACTION PLANS AND CALCULATION OF INDICATORS FROM UDALSAREA 21 MUNICIPALITIES (2009):

90 participating municipalities and regions 9.830 assessed actions contained in 90 LOCAL ACTION PLANS 2.500 calculated indicators 1.100 participating municipal technicians

At the beginning of 2009, there are 90 municipalities and

In second place, the creation of the Observatory of Local

regions that have added this yearly cycle of management

Sustainability of the BAC, global platform of integration,

to their running. With this common model we contribute

tracking and interpretation of the results from the indica-

to an effective transverse integration of the Local Ac-

tors calculation and the assessment of Local Action Plans.

tion Plan within the town councils.

Data from the assessment of LAPs and indicators from This yearly cycle is complemented with the task of

each municipality are incorporated to the computer envi-

REVISION of the Local Action Plan once the validity

ronment MUGI 21 of the Technical Secretariat of the net-

period ends and according to a common methodology.

work, so enabling the global analysis and interpretation

It is predicted that in the middle of 2009 the number

of data. Based on this information and the assessment

of municipalities having a second LAP adapted to

of the improvement commitments set the previous year,

their needs and current challenges will be a dozen.

the Report on Local Sustainability of the BAC is prepared.

GENERAL FRAMEWORK AND CONTEXT

|3

MUNICIPALITIES

REPORT ON LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BAC

TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT UDALSAREA 21: Ihobe OBSERVATORY OF LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BAC

Figure 2. Observatory of Local Sustainability of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC)

4 | GENERAL FRAMEWORK AND CONTEXT

2

IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21

Characteristics of Local Action Plans Assessed LAPs have an average of 112 actions and their performance means an average of 13 agents, mainly, municipal technical services.

Regarding the thematic distribution of actions, the first remarkable aspect is the wide diversity of fields taken into account, integrating in a more and more balanced way socio-economic aspects and social participation (30%), territorial aspects (26%) and environmental aspects (44%).

In some cases, municipalities have gone for Local Action Plans with a nature almost exclusively environmental, whereas in others they have incorporated a strong social economic component. This latter profile seems to be appropriate for small municipalities, where the LA21 can mean an instrument and a reference for the strategic planning of the whole local public policies.

More recently, actions specifically considered as of climate change have been started to be incorporated, like the preparation of mitigation strategies or the counting of greenhouse gas emissions. Although they still have a comparatively reduced importance, their progressive integration in the most recent LAPs means that it shall constitute an emerging field with a higher importance from the revision of the Local Action Plans.

IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21

|5

General implementation of the Local Action Plans The Report on Local Sustainability of the BAC 2008 extracts a series of conclusions from the assessment of the degree of implementation of LAPs done in 71 municipalities in 2008. Among these conclusions, we must

80% 70.5%

49.5%

28.5% 20%

A reasonably positive, although insufficient, degree of implementation of LAPs, is shown. 30.4% of its performance is achieved in an average period of

39.0%

40%

emphasize:

•

60.0%

60%

18.0%

reach 34%.

•

The performance of LAP is done at a quite stable rhythm in the course of the years of implementation, although slightly lower than a reasonable goal.

This difference increases from the fourth and fifth year, coinciding with the average period of validity

57.0%

43.8%

25.3%

16.2% 0%

1

2

3

4

5

6

Year of implementation

two years and a half, in the middle of its validity. An adequate aim of performance for this period would

35.7%

50.5%

Level of implementation of the objective Udalsarea 21 average level of implementation Graph 1. Evolution of the average degree of implementation of the Local Action Plans in the municipalities of Udalsarea 21 (2008)

of LAPs.

•

The Local Action Plans that started in the last three years have a rhythm of growth doubling the one of the previous years. The increase and improvement of the support services provided to the town councils, the higher number of help lines for the implementation

completed actions 8%

actions about to be completed 10%

pending actions 32%

of the Basque Government and Provincial Councils, and the allocation of human resources have undoubtedly contributed to this positive trend.

•

32% of actions are pending to start. Consequently, it would be appropriate for town councils to specifically analyse this group of action in order to identify the barriers for the implementation (lack of economic or

advanced actions 21%

started actions 29%

technical resources, lack of responsible people, definition of the inadequate action, formulation of the obsolete action, etc.) and the measures for overcoming them.

6 | IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21

Total: 7,940 actions Graph 2. State of performance of actions of the Local Action Plans in Udalsarea 21 (2008)

3

ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

Contribution to The Aalborg Commitments The Aalborg Commitments are the international reference framework to deploy the processes of Local Agenda 21 in the Basque Country. Udalsarea 21 signed these Commitments in 2004, together with other 110 local institutions, in the 4th Conference of Cities and Towns towards Sustainability, Aalborg+10.

From the assessment of the performance of the Local Action Plans, an assessment of the contribution to the performance of the 10 Commitments of Aalborg by the municipalities’ members of the network has been done.

The main conclusions of this analysis are:

•

Actions associated to commitments 3. Common nature’s goods, 9. Equality and social justice, 4. Responsible consumption and ways of life and 6. Better mobility and reduction of traffic are those which show a higher number of actions done, both due to the high number of actions planned and the further degree of implementation.

•

Commitments 7. Local action for health, 8. Lively and sustainable local economy and 1. Forms of Government are those which offer a lower performance because there are few actions planned and the majority has not been completed yet.

ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

|7

3. Common nature’s goods

166 157

4. Responsible consumption and ways of life 6. Better mobility and reduction of traffic 5. Urban planning and design 2.Municipal management for sustainability 10. From local to global 1. Forms of government

The Aalborg commitments

9.Equality and social justice 128 111 89 81 53 44

8. Lively and sustainable local economy

43 40

7. Local action for health 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Number of actions performed

Graph 3. Level of performance of actions of LAPs according to the Aalborg Commitments (2008)

Implementation of the Local Action Plan by thematic fields

done from de local policies in each of them. With this, the

Within the framework of Udalsarea 21, the whole actions

complemented and some specific aspects of the munici-

contained in the Local Action Plans are classified in 24

pal management are studied in depth.

assessment done regarding the Aalborg Commitments is

specific thematic fields of territorial, environmental and social and economical nature. The segmented analysis of

The main conclusions obtained from the analysis of the

the degree of implementation of actions according to the-

degree of implementation by thematic fields are:

se thematic categories enables to value the level of effort

•

Mobility and transport, together with Welfare and social justice, are the fields collecting more actions

•

Actions with a lower degree of implementation are those related to the environmental control, mainly

done, both due to the number of actions planned

Atmosphere, Acoustics, and Soils, and those linked

and the advanced degree of performance. Together

to aspects requiring a certain level of administrative

with them, the execution of actions in the fields of

management, like Environmental Management of

Territory and planning, Awareness and sustainable

economic activities and environmental Risk. Toge-

consumption, Waste and Water is also remarkable.

ther with them, other fields of social nature with poor implementation are also identified, especially housing.

8 | ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

Mobility and transport

264

Welfare and social integration

242

Land and planning

184

Awareness and sustainable consumption

174

Waste

170

Water

152

Environmental management of the local administration Economic development

139 133

Biodiversity and natural environment

Culture Euskara Communication and citizen’s participation

94

Thematic fields

Energy

119 78 76 70

Environmental management of economic activities

56

Labour market

49

Health

Equality

32

Acoustics

31

41

Housing

30

Atmosphere

28

Lands

17

Environmental risk

10 0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Number of actions performed

Graph 4. Level of performance of actions of LAPs by subject (2008)

State and trends in local sustainability and efficiency of policies

ned. This enables to globally assess the efficiency of the

The yearly calculation of the common indicators of Local

action of municipalities. And with all this, the last aim of

Sustainability of Udalsarea 21 by the town councils provi-

this Report is to provide guidelines and general criteria

des valuable information to prepare an X/ray of the state

for the design and adjustment of policies in the future.

implemented policies, both from the local scale and from the supramunicipal policies directed to support the

and trends of the municipalities in terms of sustainability.

A summary of the results of the main common indicators The combination of the information provided by the

calculated and the main conclusions obtained by large

assessments of the performance of LAPs and the one

thematic fields appears below.

provided by the indicators make possible to contrast the effort done with the degree of importance obtai-

ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

|9

TERRITORIAL ASPECTS (2006) Average value

Indicator

Maximum value

Minimum value

AVAILABILITY OF OPEN PUBLIC AREAS AND SERVICES IN THE MUNICIPALITY Town with open public areas, 5 minutes or less away from the residence (%)

68.7

100.0

16.1

Town with health services 5 minutes or less away from your home (%)

57.5

97.0

8.1

Town with food establishments 5 minutes or less away from your home (%)

69.1

98.0

2.0

Town with public transport stations 5 minutes or less away from your home (%)

63.7

100.0

0.0

Town with containers or recycling facilities 5 minutes or less away from your home (%)

82.6

100.0

32.7

Town with education centres 5 minutes or less away from your home (%)

52.2

95.0

0.0

Artificialized municipal area (%)

14.9

69.8

1.2

New developments in abandoned land (%)

6.3

39.7

0.0

Protected area (%)

25.6

63.5

0.0

Regular trips walking (%)

39.5

66.0

22.3

Regular trips by car (%)

39.4

70.5

30.4

Regular trips by public transport (%)

21.2

73.0

0.0

SUSTAINABLE USE OF LAND

LOCAL MOBILITY AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT

2.1

Bidegorri network (km/1.000 inhab)

8.9

0.0

Note: The values collected in this table consider in some cases the last value available on each municipality. The values not always coincide with 2006 year, because there is data coming form surveys not accomplished with annual frequency.

•

The average value of artificialized area is moderate.

coherence to the economic, town-planning and in-

Nevertheless, in a territorial context with a severely

frastructure policies affecting the mobility model at

rough orography like the BAC, the soil suitable for

different levels and of increasing the efforts done at a

urban development is a limited natural resource requi-

local level and of improving the efficiency of specific

ring a sensible and sustainable management. The new

policies.

developments on deserted land of some municipalities are a good example in this sense.

•

Actions related to Biodiversity and natural environment show a poor degree of implementation. Never-

The existence of different financing programs of the

theless, the degree of implementation has increased,

supramunicipal administrations directed to support

something that has undoubtedly been promoted by

local mobility actions undoubtedly contributes posi-

the consolidation of specific financing lines for biodi-

tively to the high level of action in this field, and it is

versity actions of the Local Action Plans.

consistent with the guidelines of the EFP II.

•

•

In spite of the efforts done regarding mobility within the framework of the LA21, the results of the local and global indicators of the BAC still show unsatisfactory values and/or trends. This rises the need of giving

10 | ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS (2006) Indicator

Average value

Maximum value

Minimum value

120.8

140.6

102.1

31.1

42.4

21.5

0.20

0.28

0.11

WATER CYCLE Household water consumption (l/inhab/day) Houses in the municipality connected to the drainage network (%) Losses in water distribution (%)

72.9

99.1

0.0

ENERGY CONSUMPTION Household consumption of electricity and natural gas (toe/inhab/year)

143.2

244.1

35.5

1.33

2.54

0.74

Degree of implementation of EMS (ISO 14001, EMAS, Ekoscan, Sustainability Reports) in companies (total no.)

4.2

16

0

Degree of implementation of EMS (ISO 14001, EMAS, Ekoscan, Sustainability Reports) in public institutions (total no.)

0.7

3

0

4

22

0

5.9

7.5

4.6

Energy consumption in lighting (kW/inhab/year)

GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT OF WASTE Urban waste generation by inhabitant and day (kg/inhab/day)

25.9

Waste selectively collected (%)

41.7

11.4

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN THE MUNICIPALITY

AWARENESS AND SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION Environmental education activities

Climate Change Inventory of greenhouse gases (tCO2e/inhab/year)

•

•

•

•

The household water consumption obtained from the values provided by the municipalities is apparently low. On the contrary, the percentages of losses in the distribution are remarkable, and still far from the goal of the EFP II for 2010 (25%). Likewise, there are still significant deficiencies in counting the consumption of some municipalities, a fact which limits an accurate analysis for the whole network to a certain extent.

Despite the fact that the field of waste has an important level of action, the indicators of management of urban waste do not reflect, in general, neither any reduction in production indicators nor any increase in selective collection enough to make possible to reach the aim set in EFP II for 2010 (35% recycling urban waste).

Having into account the period of time from the implementation of the selective collection and values reached, it seems appropriate to check the limiting factors in order to these values to increase in the different municipalities. And from this on, to consequently adapt the models of management, allocation of collection infrastructures, and/or activities of communication identified for a priority improvement.

The number of actions planned in the LAPs regarding the improvement of the environmental behaviour of the administration and the Awareness and consumption of the population is high and quite similar, something positive for the intensity of the effort,

and reasonable in its balance. It symbolically reflects an equitable distribution among the responsibilities assigned to the town council and those given to the citizenship. Nevertheless, the degree of implementation of actions of Environmental Management of the municipal administration (25%) is lower than that of the Awareness and consumption (29%).

•

•

The main contribution to the fight against climate change is done through the mitigation of Greenhouse gas emissions coming from the actions of Mobility, Energy, Consumption and Awareness and Waste, meaning 30% of the actions of the whole LAPs, and being equivalent to 2.300 actions in total. It can be inferred from this that the Local Action Plans of LA21 potentially represent instruments of great importance for the transfer of aims and mitigation measures considered within the framework of the Basque Plan of Fight against Climate Change (2008-2012).

The development of a common methodology to calculate Greenhouse gas emissions and its application to 17 municipalities, already, means a success factor of the network. This calculation enables to know the evolution of each municipality over the years and offers the possibility to compare scenarios. The average value obtained is close to the average of the BAC, Spain and the 27-European Union, although the methodology differences and the availability of information limit its possibility of direct comparison.

ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

| 11

(tCO2 eq/inhabit)

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

5.8

5.7

Average municipalities from Udalsarea 21

Average municipalities from MPSF

6.7

6.3

BAC

Spain

7.3

27-EU

Graph 5. Comparison of Greenhouse gas emission by inhabitant (2006) Note: The represented emissions do not include those associated to the primary sector, the industry sector and the activities of energy transformation. Methodologies applied and sources of information used do not coincide in all cases, therefore they partially limit the level of direct comparison between values.

MPSF: Municipalities and Provices Spanish Federation - BAC: Basque Autonomous Community

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS (2006) Average value

Maximum value

Minimum value

2.3

4.0

0.3

7.2

22.00

1.7

24.8

53.8

12.4

Year-to-year population difference (%)

1.9

3.7

0.5

Population ageing rate (% population older than 64 years with respect to the total)

19.5

25.9

14.1

4.6

24.0

0.0

62.7

222,0

0.0

59.8

97.5

0.7

Building of council houses (no. of council houses finished in the last 5 years)

5.7

51.3

0

Empty houses (%)

17.4

34.1

3.6

1.1

10.0

-22.6

Indicator

POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION Families receiving the benefit of the Basic Income (%)

LABOUR MARKET Unemployed labour force (%) Self control rate (%)

DEMOGRAPHY

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION Meetings with the participation of citizens (no. meetings) People attending citizen participation meetings (no. total different attending people in all the sessions)

BASQUE LANGUAGE Basque-speaking population (%)

HOUSING

ECONOMIC VITALITY Creation of companies (balance between registrations and resignations of establishments in the municipality/1.000 inhabitants)

12 | ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

aspectos sociales y económicos (2006) Average value

Maximum value

Minimum value

Satisfaction regarding the municipality in general (from 1: very low to 5: very high)

3.3

4.4

1.4

(…) the quality of housing, its availability and affordability (from 1 to 5)

2.4

3.8

1.5

(…) the existing job opportunities (from 1 to 5)

2.3

3.8

1.1

(...) the quality and amount of the natural environment (from 1 to 5)

3.3

4.6

2.4

(...) the quality and amount of the built environment (from 1 to 5)

3.0

4.0

2.1

(...) the level of social and health services (from 1 to 5)

3.1

4.2

2.1

(...) the level of cultural, recreational and leisure services (from 1 to 5)

2.8

3.7

1.8

(...) the quality of education centres (from 1 to 5)

2.9

4.0

1.5

(...) the level of public transport services (from 1 to 5)

2.7

4.0

1.6

(...) the opportunities to participate in the municipal planning and decision (from 1 to 5)

2.4

3.6

1.5

(...) the level of public safety (from 1 to 5)

3.3

4.6

1.7

Indicator

SATISFACTION OF CITIZENS REGARDING THE COMMUNITY

• Actions directed to social improvement and local

the public safety or the citizen participation, the

economic progress increase and consolidate their

large ones have a better assessment of the public

importance within the assessed Local Action

transport, the built environment, the social and

Plans, reaching around a 30% of the total. Those

health services and the cultural offer.

municipalities with a smaller size and those which have checked their LAPs are those which have given more importance to these fields.

•

•

The access to housing is one of the worst valued aspects among the population, contrasting with its low importance in the Local Action Plans of

Indicators on population satisfaction show a profile

LA21. Although this fact is conditioned by the higher

of needs differentiated between large and urban

importance of the supramunicipal administrations

municipalities on one hand, and small and rural ones

in the housing policy, it is still an important aspect

on the other. While the latter ones value in a more

to take into account for the future checks of LAPs.

positive way the housing, the natural environment,

ACTION AND RESULTS BY THEMATIC FIELDS

| 13

4

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND TRANSVERSALITY OF PROCESSES Internal coordination and transversality of processes of the Local Agenda 21.

The involvement of the whole technical staff and political representatives is fundamental for an effective implementation of the LA21 since it affects a wide range of thematic fields and instruments of management of town councils. The transversality of the process constitutes, therefore, a value itself which seems appropriate to be specifically assessed.

The results obtained show that in the 70% of actions from LAPs, municipal areas different from the one of the coordinator person take part, a fact reflecting an apparently remarkable degree of transversality.

On the other hand, it must be emphasized that a third part of the consulted municipalities state that they have stable specific coordination bodies associated to Local Agenda 21, while there are also many others that have a general technical coordination body incorporating some times the aspects linked to the LA 21.

Although these bodies have a mainly informative function, there is an increasing number of municipalities beginning to incorporate functions of validation of the results obtained in the assessment of the LAPs and the calculation of indicators, and, in more specific cases, to contrast and plan actions contained in LAPs.

Citizen participation

ses have a poor dynamism, especially in the stage of im-

A second fundamental element to fully deploy the proces-

plementation of LAPs.

ses of LA21 is to incorporate citizen participation intended to improve the quality of design of LAPs, as well as facilita-

Only a fourth part of municipalities have participation bo-

ting and boosting its further implementation.

dies meeting in a stable way and with a regular recurren-

From the analysis done, it can be deduced that more than

worse as the period passed from the approval of the Local

half of the municipalities have a formal level of participa-

Action Plan increases.

ce, higher than two times a year, a situation which gets

tion Forums considered stable, which are complemented with other instruments of participation with a thematic or sectorial nature in 2,5% of cases.

Likewise, it is affirmed that in 62,5% of cases, the participation sessions organized have a merely informative nature, or are used to collect specific complaints and requests.

In spite of the strong disparity among municipalities, the analysis performed shows that the participative proces-

Existence of mechanisms of citizen participation

21%

5%

Participation sessions have the following aim, basically: 12%

16%

31%

25%

32%

58% There are not

Informative

There is a stable general body: participation forum

Collecting complaints and requests Validating the results of the processes of evaluation and programming

There are complementary participation bodies according to the different thematic fields There are complementary participation bodies according to the different sectors

Making, discussing and agreeing proposals for the Local Action Plan

Frequency of meetings of the mechanism of citizen participation 26%

Average number of participants in each session of the participation forum

18% 10%

4%

23%

23%

46% There are no meetings

50%

There has not been a meeting for more than 2 years Specific meetings of the stable body (1 or 2 in the last two years)

<5

5 - 10

10 - 20

>20

Periodic meetings of the stable body (>2 a year)

Graph 6. Implementation and characteristics of the citizen participation mechanisms (2008)

CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND TRANSVERSALITY OF PROCESSES

| 15

5

OUTCOME AND CHALLENGES Based on the information analysed and interpreted, the Report on Local Sustainability of the BAC 2008 extracts some global conclusions and provides a set of challenges for this year 2009, which are summarized next:

1 The application of the common model of management of the Local Action Plans of Udalsarea 21 consolidates and expands among the municipalities of the network.

In 2008 it was already implemented in 71 munici-

palities and regions, with the participation of more

than 800 agents, whereas in 2009 it will involve

90 municipalities and more than 1.100 agents. All this contributes to the increase of the involvement

of the municipal technical staff and its methodological knowledge, and to the improvement of the

quality and efficiency in the assessment of LAPs and the calculation of indicators. Nevertheless, the

need to advance in the scope and quality of the indicators calculated by the municipalities in order to favour their effective application at a technical, political and social level is confirmed.

CHALLENGES 2009

• • •

Focusing on the continuous improvement of the quality and the increase of the commitment of its participants.

Advancing in the integration of the Annual Programme within the management of the Local Action Plans of the town councils.

Consolidating and increasing the quality and number of indicators calculated and boosting the tasks of interpretation, communication and application in the management of the results of the indicators obtained every year.

2 Municipalities face important difficulties and barriers to consolidate and dynamize their processes of citizen participation.

In general terms, citizen participation is still one

CHALLENGES 2009

of the pending tasks in the implementation of the

processes of Local Agenda 21. In spite of having an

•

important group of stable participation bodies,

Promoting the citizen communication about the tracking of the LA21 and the indicators,

they use to lack a periodical frequency of meetings

and an appropriate operation dynamics. However,

boosting the preparation of Reports on local

there are remarkable participative processes and others with plans for reactivation.

•

sustainability in municipalities.

Assessing the main barriers for the deployment of the participative processes for the whole network and creating improvement proposals.

3 The annual implementation and assessment of the Local Action Plans favours the involvement of technical staff in the policies of sustainability and the transversality in town councils.

The existence of an important mobilisation of the

CHALLENGES 2009

technical agents through LAPs is confirmed, with a 70% of their actions where technical or political

staff not being coordinator of the Local Agenda 21

•

mechanism to the action which reaches 1,100 tech-

•

takes part. In turn, the assessment means a drive

nical and political agents from the local Basque

administration. They have their management yearly

reflected, assessed and acknowledge, both politi-

Dynamizing the commissions of municipal sustainability.

Boosting the practical application of the assessment of Local Action Plans to improve the planning and performance of LAPs.

cally and socially. Nevertheless, the efforts done

must be better valued, both in the field of manage-

ment and in the field of communication, to keep the interest of these two agents in the processes of assessment in the future.

OUTCOME AND CHALLENGES

| 17

4 The degree of implementation of the Local Action Plans is reasonably positive, reaching a 30% in two years and a half of validity.

There is an increasing differentiation in the rhythms

CHALLENGES 2009

of performance between municipalities. In this sense, LAPs started the last three years stand out

•

with a rhythm of implementation which doubles

To strengthen political leadership in processes

the one of LAPs started in earlier years, that in

by providing acknowledgement and public

be: the increase and improvement of the support

efforts.

visibility to those municipalities doing higher

some cases are blocked. The main reasons can

•

services provided from Udalsarea 21, the higher

number of help lines for the implementation of

To deploy the revision of Local Action Plans with more validity years according to a com-

the Basque Government and Provincial Councils, the implementation of the tracking programs, the

•

improvement in the design of LAPs more adapted

mon methodology.

To consolidate services adapted to each type of municipalities of Udalsarea 21 and the econo-

to the municipal reality and the higher allocation of

mic support to the implementation of LAPs.

human resources.

5 Local Agenda 21 substantially and increasingly contribute to fight against climate change.

The implementation of Local Action Plans favours

CHALLENGES 2009

the reduction of Greenhouse gas emissions from the municipalities by means of the more than 2.300

actions contained related to energy, mobility, was-

•

Boosting and visualizing the contribution to

te and consumption. Nevertheless, the number of

the fight against climate change from the Local

against the climate change must be increased.

the revisions of Local Action Plans.

Agenda 21 and incorporating climate change in

specific actions to articulate and boost the fight

• •

Promoting the calculation of the inventory of Greenhouse gas emissions.

Implementing the Municipal Ordinance of fight against climate change.

18 | OUTCOME AND CHALLENGES

6

UDALSAREA 21: DEPLOYMENT OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ACTION

Udalsarea 21 puts at disposal of member municipalities a series of services directed to make it easier to advance in terms of local sustainability. Services offered are adapted and segmented according to the heterogeneity of members and the conclusions of the Reports on Local Sustainability of the BAC. Nowadays, Udalsarea 21 offers about thirty services, defined according to the operational goals collected in the Strategic Plan 2006-2009 and its deployment in specific actions. Services have different natures: informative, formative, methodological, computer, assessment and technical support and acknowledgement.

The network differentiates its service offer depending on the level of implementation of the Local Agenda 21 of the target municipality. This way, each one can satisfy the specific needs of each level and, in turn, its efforts and the quality obtained in the process will be acknowledged.

UDALSAREA 21: DEPLOYMENT OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ACTION

| 19

+ commitment

+ acknowledgement

ADVANCED SERVICES

UDALSAREA21 AWARDS

ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS

INTERMEDIATE SERVICES mugi 21

ECOBAROMETERS

ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING OF LOCAL ACTION PLANS

BASIC SERVICES www.udalsarea21.net

METHODOLOGICAL GUIDES

TRAINING ON SUSTAINABILITY

Figure 3: Services offered by Udalsarea 21 for member municipalities

20 | UDALSAREA 21: DEPLOYMENT OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ACTION

GOOD PRACTICES

The most emblematic services offered and the level of development reached for year 2008 appears below.

Network’s services

Activity indicator

Value 2008

BASIC SERVICES Ihobe-Line telephone information service

263

no. of queries

4

no. training days

Training on Sustainability

no. people attending training activities

Methodological Guides

no. publications

Good practices

no. of good practices identified

Web www.udalsarea21.net

no. visits

200 6

60

144,000

INTERMEDIATE SERVICES Computer application MUGI 21

no. municipalities and regions users

Municipal ecobarometers

no. municipalities with ecobarometer

(1)

Ekitaldes (thematic work teams) (2) Assessment and tracking of Local Action Plans

150 24 6

no. active Ekitaldes no. municipalities taking part in Ekitaldes no. municipalities with assessed Local Action Plan no. municipalities with calculated sustainability indicators

134 71

58

ADVANCED SERVICES Udalsarea21 Awards

no. of awards conceded to municipalities

Assistance from the Basque Government and Provincial Councils

total amount granted in contributions of support for the implementation of Local Action Plans (€)

Auzolan 21 (3) Berringurumena (4)

5 17,750,000 €

no. common Auzolan 21 projects

2

no. municipalities taking part in Auzolan 21 projects

13

no. projects

4

allocated budget (€)

500,000 €

(1) Municipal ecobarometers: Survey on the environmental perception of the citizenship whose information is used to calculate local sustainability indicators.

Ekitaldes: Thematic work groups of municipalities directed to learning through action and generating common resources for the network.

(2)

(3) Auzolan 21: Technical and economic support service for the execution of pilot and innovative projects articulated through teamwork of a limited number of municipalities with a high commitment of action.

Berringurumena: Development of innovative projects in priority fields set in the EFP II and which substantially contribute to reduce environmental impacts (in 2008 projects linked to Climate Change, Quality of Air and Biodiversity).

(4)

www.udalsarea21.net

UDALSAREA 21: DEPLOYMENT OF INSTRUMENTS FOR ACTION

| 21

REPORT ON LOCAL SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BASQUE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITY 2008

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY