LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL
MANAGEMENT AND THE
GLOBAL AGENDA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Global Trends
Globalisation of:
• Business and trade in goods and services;
• Communication systems;
• Media coverage and ownership, hence awareness;
• Travel and tourism;
• Urban links with mega-city growth
• Environmental impacts – air and atmospheric, water and
oceanic, biodiversity, pathogens, climate;
• Responses…
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Global Responses
• Global institutions
– UN and World Bank systems
– Global Associations – ICLEI,
– Global NGOs – WWF, IUCN, Greenpeace
• Global conventions
• Global intentions
THINK GLOBALLY
• National interpretations
ACT LOCALLY
• Local applications
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
It’s NOT the thought that counts!
Three elements necessary for behavioural change:
Awareness of the need to change, and of the goal of change
Right attitude and a firm intention to change, i.e. a decision
The ability (authority, resources, knowledge, etc.) to change
(empowerment)
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Global Goals
Many Conventions, including Millennium Development Goals
• Trans-generational sustainability
– Environment and natural resources
– Economic
– Social
• Reduce poverty
• Remove gender discrimination
• Improve governance
• Encourage empowerment = participation
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Sustainability: local - global
Sustainability presupposes:
– Peace and stability (war/conflict is not sustainable)
– Wide-scale participation
– Socio-economic justice
Ultimately it will also require
– Some degree of population and migration control
– Much more effective use of resources
– A fundamentally different value/economic/
development system
LEM has significant role to play.
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
LEM & Conflict
• Environmental management cannot work well in conflict
situations – locally, regionally, nationally, internationally.
But…
• Mutual environmental concerns MAY be used to build
“bridges” and end conflict.
• At local levels, good environmental management can be
used to avoid tension and conflict.
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
LEM & Poverty Alleviation
Poverty is more than lack of money
Local Environmental Management is about:
• Awareness creation and empowerment;
• Finding solutions to environmental issues that also
lead to….
– Better incomes
– Improved living standards, better homes, water &
sanitation, indoor & outdoor environment;
– Improved health
• Doing more with very little – effectiveness & efficiency;
• Reuse and recycle – the poor are experts!
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
GINI COEFFICIENT
The Gini coefficient can range from 0 to 1; it is sometimes multiplied by 100
to range between 0 and 100. A low Gini coefficient indicates a more equal
distribution, with 0 corresponding to complete equality, while higher Gini
coefficients indicate more unequal distribution, with 1 corresponding to
complete inequality.
To be validly computed, no negative goods can be distributed. Thus, if the
Gini coefficient is being used to describe household income inequality, then
no household can have a negative income. When used as a measure of
income inequality, the most unequal society will be one in which a single
person receives 100% of the total income and the remaining people
receive none (G=1); and the most equal society will be one in which every
person receives the same percentage of the total income (G=0).
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Poverty-Conflict-Environment
CONFLICT
POVERTY
ENVIRONMENT
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
LEM and Gender
Direct and indirect differences due to gender:
• Values & attitudes towards living/natural environment;
• Interactions with, & experience of, the local environment;
• Participation in identifying issues, determining priorities;
• Actual/potential ability to effect change (decision-making);
• Impacts of change are different.
• Cultural, social, and religious factors;
• Institutional and organisational factors;
• Economic factors.
LEM must mobilise the positive features of both genders!
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
LEM & Democracy
Democracy is about empowering the people:
• Voicing aspirations, goals and priorities;
• Identifying issues, concerns;
• Alerting authorities to system failures, dangers, shortfalls;
• Participating in policy and decision-making;
• Participating in implementation, monitoring, evaluation.
Democracy in LEM means mobilising people, enabling them
to pursue legitimate & sustainable environmental goals.
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
LEM & Good Governance
Good governance is about:
• Service mindedness, rapid response to public needs;
• Transparency, as tool to reduce corruption;
• Openness and two way information flows;
• Building trust between parties – LA, business, civic society
Requires:
• Willingness and intention to continuously improve;
• Monitoring & evaluation for betterment, not for blame.
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA
Achievement of global goals of sustainability
is ultimately dependent on effective local
environmental management.
The future of the world rests in YOUR
hands!
ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL COURSE IN LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS 2010 AFRICA