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The background document provides a description of the basic concepts and information as regards to sustainable development and Agenda 21. The document has six main sections:
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Section one identifies the key principles of sustainable development and the characteristics of a sustainable community.
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Section two provides a summary guide to agenda 21, which is one of the five Earth Summit documents, with a brief description of each section.
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Section three provides a brief description of the other Earth Summit outcomes.
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Section four describes the roots of Local Agenda 21 process and addresses the importance of initiating a consultative process by Local Authorities with the public and local organizations and adopting a ″Local Agenda 21″ to create more sustainable communities than today.
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Section five details the progress made since the earth summit and describes the next phase of Local Agenda 21 which is known as Local Action 21.
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Section six assesses the status of Local Agenda 21 implementation in Europe and Italy.
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The educational material presented in the thematic group meetings includes four main sections: (1) the existing situation; (2) the program areas recommended by Agenda 21; (3) the relevant national policies and strategies and a comparison between the national vision and Agenda 21 recommended actions; and (4) the role of local authorities in localizing Agenda 21. The PowerPoint presentations relevant to each thematic group meeting are as follows:
26/04/2006
The first thematic group meeting "socio-economic development"
03/05/2006
The second thematic group meeting "sustainable water resources management"
10/05/2006
The third thematic group meeting "sustainable agriculture"
17/05/2006
The forth thematic group meeting "sustainable land management"
24/05/2006
The fifth thematic group meeting "sustainable solid waste and wastewater management"
The meetings were attended by one or two selected councilors from the targeted municipalities and village councils, the municipalities engineers and one representative from the targeted national authorities in order to develop their capacities in the abovementioned thematic areas.
List of participants |
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Note: The material is prepared in arabic. |
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The declaration of the sustainability planning effort represents the official document in which the targeted local councils declare their commitment to participate in Bethlehem 21 project effectively throughout the course of its implementation. It also reflects their commitment to proceed with the sustainability initiative after the project's duration as "Local Agenda 21" process that aims at directing the communities towards sustainability is continuous and does not end at a certain point.
A draft declaration was prepared and discussed with the representatives of the targeted local and national authorities during the final meeting pertinent to the five thematic group meetings dated on the 1st of June 2006.
The involved local authorities reviewed the prepared draft declaration and provided ARIJ with their commitments and proposed modifications. A consensus was reached on the contents of the declaration and a final modified version was issued, reviewed and signed by the Mayors of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Za'tara, Al Khader and Ed Doha municipalities and the Head of Battir rural council during Bethlehem 21 Workshop which was held on 28 and 29 June 2006. |
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Bethlehem 21 Workshop was organized over two days. On the first day, 28 June 2006, an overview of Bethlehem 21 project was presented to the participants in order to inform those who are unfamiliar with the project about its objectives and planned activities. This was followed by a presentation on the sustainable development challenges in the Palestinian Territory that include land fragmentation, depletion of water resources, population growth, poverty, unsound management of waste, losses to biodiversity, among others. Bethlehem 21 Declaration was also presented and signed by the Mayors of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Za'tara, Al Khader and Ed Doha municipalities and the Head of Battir rural council.
Four international delegates shared the experience of their municipalities and/or institutions in localizing Agenda 21 with the participants through the papers that were presented in the workshop as follows:
First Day "28/06/2006"
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Mr. Emilio Teglio, the communication responsible person from the Coordination Body of Italian Local Agendas 21, presented a paper entitled "The Experience of the Coordination Body of Italian Local Agendas 21". 
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Mr. Gianluca Peciola, councillor to youth policies, intercultural affairs, housing and work in the Municipality of Rome XI, made a presentation entitled "Participative Balance: The Experience of Municipality of Rome XI and "Bristol" Association".
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Mr. Juan Pablo Munoz Navarrete, coordinator of the Democracy and Local Development Network (GDDL) of Ecuador, presented a paper entitled "Participative Management in Local Governments of Ecuador and Agenda 21: Scenarios, Trends, Achievements & Limitations".
Second Day "29/06/2006"
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On behalf of Mrs. Giuseppina Balzamo, councillor to Environment, Implementation of Agenda 21 and International Relationships in the Municipality of Pavia, Ms. Carla Pagano from CRIC presented the paper entitled "The Implementation Status of Local Agenda 21 in the Municipality of Pavia".
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Mr. Vince Caruana, assistant lecturer at the University of Malta - Centre for Environmental Education and Research, presented a paper entitled "Local Agenda 21 Processes Lessons Learnt from Community Centres Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles".
Moreover, on the second day of the workshop, three presentations were made by ARIJ project team members: (1) a presentation on the planning, management and development of human settlements & natural resources; (2) a presentation on the Geographic Information System (GIS) of Beit Sahour municipality; and (3) a presentation on the main findings of the five thematic group meetings that were conducted with decision makers during April and May 2006. These presentations were followed by dividing the participants into three main working groups:
- Working Group no.1: Participative Balance as a Local Governance Tool
- Working Group no.2: Social Economy as a Sustainable Development Tool
- Working Group no.3: Education to Environmental Sustainability and Coordination
he working groups used a brainstorming process to determine the advantages, means and implementation strategies related to the discussed theme. Each group selected a spokesperson to present the results.
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