CIAO DATE: 01/03

Learning from each other in North and South: Local Agenda 21 in Germany and the Republic of Korea

Petra Stephan

September 2000

Institute for Development and Peace

 

Introduction

This report is based on an international workshop which took place at the Institute of Development and Peace (INEF) in Duisburg/Germany in June 2000. A delegation of the Republic of Korea - including members of local communities and local governments, as well as NGO representatives – on a study trip to Germany - had been invited to exchange experiences and information about Local Agenda 21 processes in Germany and the Republic of Korea. The following papers reflect important issues which have been raised and discussed during the workshop.

The first paper (Petra Stephan) presents an overall view of the latest developments in Local Agenda 21 processes in North and South in general and in Germany in particular. The relevance of local processes in the age of globalization are discussed. The paper emphasizes the importance of comprehensive, crossdepartmental national and international frameworks for sustainability. Even promising Local Agenda 21 processes will fail without such frameworks.

Ulrich Nitschke presents in his paper five theses which point out critical issues in the German agenda work. These theses are enriched with practical examples which demonstrate the chances for change that exist on the local level. He argues that without Local Agenda 21 processes taking place worldwide, the ideals of Rio wouldn’t have any chance to survive. But eight years after UNCED there is a need for redefinition and a need to integrate "One World aspects" into Local Agenda 21 processes.

This aspect is further elaborated in the paper written by Thomas Fues. He points out the need to integrate the issue of international justice into local activities. So far, most of the Local Agenda 21 processes in the North give only little coverage to this dimension. He presents an analytical framework for integrating North-South aspects into Local Agenda 21 processes and into local indicator programs. He demonstrates that many indicators for global sustainability can be directly linked to the local level.

In his contribution to this report Uwe Hoering presents communities with advanced Local Agenda 21 processes in Germany, like Berlin-Köpenick and Münster. He analyses the role of women in Local Agenda 21 processes, gives examples for Local Agenda 21 processes which have successfully integrated the North-South dimension into their work and he identifies “blind spots” in Local Agenda 21 processes: It is still very difficult to motivate companies or industries to participate, and social issues are neglected in many processes.

Hildegard Pamme gives a “view inside” local governments and their role within Local Agenda 21 processes in Germany. She points out that local administrations are main players to initiate, organize and implement Local Agenda 21 processes and that they are very active. But there is the danger that these activities remain in political niches. In order to meet this challenge she argues, sustainability has to become part of organizational changes and bureaucratic reforms on the local level: Local Agenda 21 processes have to be transferred from committed individuals to organizational structures and procedures.

The korean contributions to this report start with an introduction by Kern Soo Yoon. He gives an overview of the environmental challenges in Korea since the later 1980s and describes how the citizens in Korea have responded to them. At the same time, he presents a review of the development of citizen’s environmental movement in Korea.

The importance of the civil movement within the Local Agenda 21 process in Korea is further stressed by Myong-Jae Cha. He points out the differences of Korea’s civil movement compared to other countries, the internal structure of the new social movement, and – by this - on how Korea’s civil society will develop in future. He gives us an in-depth analysis of the role that environmental NGOs in Korea play in the Local Agenda 21 process.

Kwi-Gon Kim shares with us the present state of Local Agenda 21 initiatives in the Republic of Korea. Being the president of the Commission for the Kyonggi Agenda 21, Kim presents a detailed analysis about Local Agenda 21 activities in this province. Besides a lot of promising results, the process in the Kyonggi Province faces problems such as the lack of residents’ participation due to the fact that the Agenda process has not been based on partnership between the local stakeholders. Moreover the processes are hampered by poor implementation and insufficient budget.

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