Local Agenda 21 Process of Storström County

While Storström County, Denmark adopted a Local Agenda 21 Action Plan in 1997, the County was involved in the “Green Region Project” even before the Rio Convention in 1992.
 

In fact, the Green Energy Project received a number of national and international awards, notably the UN Environmental Award, and the European Regional Industrial Development Organization (ERIDO) Award.
 

The LA21 Action Plan was not prepared in view of any particular serious environmental problems.  The Plan was implemented to reduce the amount of energy and natural resources consumed by companies.
 

The Plan is comprised of 83 actions, of which six deal with sustainable tourism.  It emphasized coordinated implementation and ongoing innovative initiatives.  The actions of the Plan are being implemented while new initiatives are developed.
 

The LA21 Action Plan stresses intervention amongst owners of hotels and tourism accommodation in order to spur them to better environmental management, and to encourage them to cut down their consumption of natural resources.
 

ICLEI’s Local Agenda 21 (LA21) Campaign promotes a participatory, long-term, strategic planning process that supports local governance by identifying local sustainability priorities and mobilizing local governments and their citizens to implement long-term action plans that address these sustainable priorities. Using the LA21 approach of participatory sustainable development planning, ICLEI aims to assist local authorities to move beyond general sustainable development planning and to apply this approach in tackling areas of priority concern. For more information, please visit www.iclei.org/la21.
 

Storström County is one of five local governments in Denmark that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.  For more information on ICLEI and its activities in Europe, please visit www.iclei.org/europe.
 

Source:  Storström County Case Study, UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics.