Why train local authorities?
As many SEE and CEE countries are now EU members, international support for development and reconstruction has weakened, although environmental problems deserve a high place on the political agenda.
The participation of citizens and communities is central to sustainable development. Local authorities have a crucial role to play in enabling communities to become more involved, by encouraging debate and by including citizens in local decision making. Local governments have the important task of revitalising and strengthening community action and motivating individual behaviour in support of common goals. The integration of social, economic and environmental objectives into action at the local level helps communities to prevent conflict and maximise the benefits of local initiatives.
Local officials also occupy a vital role between the national government and citizens, and are responsible for educating and mobilising the public toward promoting sustainable development. National associations of local authorities, towns and municipalities are likewise pivotal in communicating and disseminating information.
Nonetheless, much remains to be done. Closer international cooperation is needed in order to solve environmental problems and tackle the impacts of natural and human-made disasters. The Italian Government has played a proactive role in fostering international cooperation and identifying future threats. As we grow more closely interconnected, we increasingly recognise that our accelerated globalisation process comes at high environmental cost: pollution in India affects air quality in Europe, and a tanker accident in the Black Sea will damage the marine ecosystem in Northern Africa. Today's actions will influence the lives of future generations, just as we have inherited an environment fashioned by the green policies of earlier generations. Our interconnectedness is best illustrated by chaos theory's 'butterfly effect' concept: a butterfly moving its wings in one part of the world will cause a tornado or other weather event in another part of the world.
Governments need to reaffirm their joint commitment to reducing pollution and ending over-exploitation of the planet's natural resources. The international community needs to contribute effectively and in a coordinated manner in guiding the future toward sustainable development. Local communities need to see for themselves how their efforts can facilitate this task, even though sharing responsibility is harder than apportioning blame. Yet with concerted effort, the beauty and wealth of our planet will remain to be enjoyed by both present and future generations.
