What shapes municipalities’ perceptions of fairness in windpower developments?

ABSTRACT

Siting controversies have become familiar in windpower development. Process and outcome fairness in the form of economic benefits to local communities and inclusion in decision-making processes are recognised as important elements in local acceptance of windpower installations. To these, we add the concept of “relative fairness” influencing perceptions of overall fairness. In this article, we examine why Norwegian municipalities agree to host windpower, and the role of process, outcome and relative fairness in this decision. Municipalities are central in providing welfare services, and in ensuring a viable local economy and local workplaces. Process fairness is important, as is evident when municipalities have little influence in the detailed planning of the plants. Also, outcome fairness, in the form of economic compensation – particularly through property tax – is decisive for positive attitudes towards windfarms, as municipalities can strengthen their role as welfare providers and boost local economic activities. Less emphasised are the effects on global climate and national climate goals. However, effects on local landscape and nature are also important for municipalities, as became clear when the national government proposed withdrawing the municipalities’ possibilities of levying property taxes. The municipalities argue that it is only fair to receive something in return for hosting windmills, and relative fairness is important to their argument for equal treatment regarding hydro- and wind-power electricity production in the form of a natural resource tax.     

The Use of Local Sustainability Indicators: case studies in two Swedish municipalities1

This article contributes to the debate on the role of local sustainability indicators in ongoing democratisation efforts. We examine the extent to which five different systems of local sustainability indicators within two Swedish municipalities—Stockholm and Sundsvall—are either expert or citizen oriented, and relate these findings to the indicator systems' profile, function and political/ administrative context. Even though three of the indicator systems can be classified as citizen oriented, there are few signs of true engagement and dialogue with the citizens over a longer period of time. The remaining two indicator systems are expert oriented with an environmental focus. Hence, we conclude that the systems in use are largely symbolic responses to the demands for democracy within the agenda for sustainable development albeit attempts to include environmental, economic, social and democratic perspectives of sustainability. Despite the fact that Stockholm and Sundsvall show differences in governing styles in their approaches to sustainability indicators it seems difficult for both municipalities to put sustainable development into practice in terms of citizen participation.     

Municipal Environmental Policy in Norway: from 'mainstream' policy to 'real' Agenda 21?

The Brundtland report and Agenda 21 focus on the global environment and development problems. Though Norway is usually considered a pioneer with respect to sustainable development, analyses have shown that this has not been the case with respect to Local Agenda 21. Still, Norwegian municipalities have strengthened their institutional capacity on environmental policy, and have thereby strengthened their ability to follow up the recommendations in Agenda 21. Through the high-profile government-financed reform programme, Environment in the Municipalities, which ran from 1988 to 1996, a great majority of the municipalities have employed their own environmental officers, and environmental considerations have gradually obtained a footing in municipal planning. So far, however, it is the local environmental problems that have received most attention rather than global environmental and development problems. By the start of the 21st century a crucial question is, therefore, whether the growing number of Local Agenda 21 initiatives in Norway will in fact adopt the global perspectives outlined by the Brundtland report and Agenda 21, or just keep on with a 'business as usual' environmental policy approach. So far national environmental policy in Norway seems to be reluctant to face the global problems, leaving the municipalities with the great challenge of being the 'engine' in steaming up Norwegian environmental politics.     

Implementing agenda 21 in local government: The Swedish experience

Abstract

Chapter 28 of the UNCED agreement ‘Agenda 21’ asks for implementing sustainable development at the local level of government. Sweden is amongst the fore‐running nations in having responded quickly to these demands. Virtually all of Sweden's 288 municipalities have decided to embark on the Local Agenda 21 process. In this article, the progress so far and how LA21 has been interpreted at the local level are examined. The motives behind the process, the tensions between national and local policy making, and the role of municipal networks and NGOs are analysed. Four case studies of pioneer municipalities are used to illustrate how LA21 has sometimes inspired more far‐reaching goals at the local than at the national level, and the combination of economic development and marketing with environmental policy. It remains to be seen whether the most recent national government investment programme towards local projects for sustainable development will resolve the present conflicts between national goals and local priorities.     

Biofuels – tools for achieving environmental goals or green place branding? Present drivers and future visions in two Swedish municipalities

This paper presents a study of two Swedish municipalities’ engagement in biogas development. To analyse the drivers of such biogas development, the conceptual framing incorporates two perspectives on local biogas policy: first, policy drivers as connected to environmental goals and, second, policy as a matter of green place branding. The results indicate that biogas engagement serves as a self-governing activity with the fulfilment of environmental goals as a driver; furthermore, it is a way of expressing the mission of municipalities as “engines” of environmental policy. In one studied municipality, biogas engagement has an important symbolic value for green identity, meaning that green place branding is a driver. Still, interviewed actors from both municipalities lack clear long-term visions of biogas. Further studies of biofuel production should critically investigate visions of the future among central and local governments and evaluate the implications of municipalities as biofuel producers.     

Municipal Environmental Policy in Norway: From 'mainstream' policy to 'real' Agenda 21?

The Brundtland report and Agenda 21 focus on the global environment and development problems. Though Norway is usually considered a pioneer with respect to sustainable development, analyses have shown that this has not been the case with respect to Local Agenda 21. Still, Norwegian municipalities have strengthened their institutional capacity on environmental policy, and have thereby strengthened their ability to follow up the recommendations in Agenda 21. Through the high-profile government-financed reform programme, Environment in the Municipalities, which ran from 1988 to 1996, a great majority of the municipalities have employed their own environmental officers, and environmental considerations have gradually obtained a footing in municipal planning. So far, however, it is the local environmental problems that have received most attention rather than global environmental and development problems. By the start of the 21st century a crucial question is, therefore, whether the growing number of Local Agenda 21 initiatives in Norway will in fact adopt the global perspectives outlined by the Brundtland report and Agenda 21, or just keep on with a 'business as usual' environmental policy approach. So far national environmental policy in Norway seems to be reluctant to face the global problems, leaving the municipalities with the great challenge of being the 'engine' in steaming up Norwegian environmental politics.     

Devolving power from the state: local initiatives for nature protection and recreation in Sweden

ABSTRACT

Quests for devolving more power to local actors for nature protection stem from both international and national policies. Also, there is a growing recognition of the need for local governments to promote green infrastructure for citizens to recreate and learn about their environment. Starting in 2004, the Swedish government has allocated special funding towards these goals through the Local Nature Conservation Programme (LONA). Virtually all Swedish municipalities have received such funding in pursuit of facilitating wide access to nature and promoting recreational activities, including the protection of nature areas, creating pathways, information devices, and promoting these areas among new societal groups to enjoy. This study presents the results of ten years of experience with LONA. A survey with respondents from 191 municipalities and 20 county administrations, together with 20 key informant interviews, show that the programme has been a success in several respects. Not only have most municipalities created a wealth of new ways to engage local organisations and citizens in nature conservation and recreation, but they have also broadened the ways they think about how nature is important to their constituencies. Due to innovative ways to count voluntary work as local matching of funding, smaller and less resourceful municipalities have also become engaged. Still, the local needs for further initiatives are deemed considerable. State support coupled with knowledge sharing is important to show policy priority to such bottom-up initiatives.     

The effectiveness of state of the environment reporting (SoER) at the local government sphere – a developing country's experience

State of the environment reporting (SoER) is a well-established and widely applied environmental management tool in the South African context. Despite a wealth of knowledge about conducting and preparing SoERs, there is a paucity of research on the effect SoER has had on decision-making at the local government sphere. This study investigated the effect of SoER on decision-making for a sample of municipalities in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The methodology relied on interviews with key role players, which include the ‘‘environmental function’' as well as ‘‘other functions’' responsible for infrastructure development and planning within the municipalities. The results show that notwithstanding the extensive time and resources spent on SoER, it appears to have had a limited effect on decision-making, especially beyond the environmental function. Recommendations to improve the influence of SoER on decision-making in developing countries include improved clarity on the purpose and home of SoER within municipalities, adequate budget and capacity, and effective cooperative governance both within the municipalities, and with other spheres of government.     

Barriers to implementing sustainability locally: a case study of policy immobilities

This study aims to contribute to the field of urban planning by applying policy mobilities and transfer theories to a case study of the Capital Regional District and its 13 municipalities in British Columbia, Canada, in order to analyse and understand the dynamics of how sustainability is governed locally, with a special focus on barriers to sustainability policy mobility. The empirical material is primarily based on interviews with key stakeholders who guide policy development and creation in the region to inform an understanding of how sustainable development initiatives are developed and shared. This study finds that while there is interest and demand in sustainability, policy-makers are frustrated with their lack of success in implementing sustainability programmes. While there are some instances of policy sharing and transfer among municipalities in the region, there is a clear desire for more exchanges which would allow municipalities to respond more effectively to the demands placed upon them. Significant barriers to policy mobility are also identified, in particular, an unclear understanding of sustainability, a culture of competition and hostility among municipalities, difficulty with the process of transfer itself, and a lack of time, money and resources. These barriers are in part a result of a broken governance structure which does not provide clear leadership to the municipalities, sets municipalities to be competitive with each other and provides ineffective support for municipalities through an unwieldy regional administrative body which is not well regarded by the municipalities.     

Local Agenda 21 in Four Swedish Municipalities: A Tool towards Sustainability?

Four small- to medium-sized municipalities in the south-east of Sweden were chosen for a 5-year study of their Local Agenda 21 (LA21) processes. The study shows that the LA21 processes have instigated many new ideas, brought fields together and introduced new subjects into the municipal world. In the decisions of the local governments environmental considerations are treated seriously. There are signs of an extended dialogue and of public influence, especially within fields where citizens are directly involved. LA21 does not seem to have great influence on which natural resources are dealt with, but does on how they are dealt with. New stakeholders within and outside the municipal organization have been identified through the LA21 processes, and more comprehensive ways of solving problems and a positive climate for testing new ideas have been created. In these respects LA21 has been and will be a significant support to the development of appropriate natural resource management at the local level.     

Assessing municipal-level governance responses to climate change in KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

The 2011 Durban Adaptation Charter for Local Governments calls on local governments, worldwide, to institutionalise climate response, with the aim of minimising the impacts of climate change on local livelihoods and vulnerable communities. This paper, through the use of case studies, in-depth interviews and document review, assesses how three non-metropolitan municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, a district municipality, and two local municipalities under its jurisdiction, are responding to this call. The results suggest that while the municipalities have adopted measures to institutionalise climate responses, the responses are relatively new and implementation is slow, complex and fraught with limitations and competing demands. Furthermore, there appears to be a lack of co-ordination of responses between the two levels of government, which has the potential to lead to duplication. Given the multi-scalar nature of climate change, emphasis on co-ordination and the inclusion of all municipal departments in the development and implementation of responses is necessary.     

LASALA: Evaluating Local Agenda 21 in Europe

Local Agenda 21 (LA 21) may be regarded as one of the most enduring and possibly most effective outcomes of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro ‘Earth Summit’. In Europe alone, approximately 4000 cities, municipalities at regional and local level, and regional authorities are now engaged in a LA 21 process of some kind. This paper reports on the main findings of the recent Local Authorities' Self-Assessment of Local Agenda 21 (LASALA) project, which conducted a Europe-wide research programme into the European LA 21 initiative. The research demonstrates the significant levels of commit ment to the LA 21 process amongst European local government, and some notable achievements in sustainable development policies within a very short space of time. Although there is still a long way to go, the LASALA research indicates that LA 21 is an effective policy vehicle for encouraging and supporting sustainable development initiatives at the local level in Europe.     

The greenhouse gas balance of the Province of Siena

There is a profound debate over how to assign greenhouse gas (GHG) responsibilities; therefore, we have decided to follow IPCC guidelines, as they offer the only standardized method. We have identified each type of greenhouse emission and its level of absorption. We have studied the province and its districts and municipalities. We have determined that the energy sector is that with the highest level of emissions, even if the per capita emissions of the Province of Siena are very low. This is caused by a very low level of industrialization and the presence of a local geothermal production of energy. In order to highlight this aspect, we have considered scenarios both with and without geothermal production. Our research was then focused on single districts (groups of homogenous municipalities) and municipalities, where we found great differences among the greenhouse emissions of the areas. We have constructed a map of the greenhouse emissions of the whole province. It has been interesting to note that there are 14 municipalities with net negative emissions, seven with low positive emissions, 12 with medium positive emissions and three with elevated positive emissions. These latter correspond to the main city and to two of the most industrialized municipalities.     

Implementation of the ecosystem services approach in Swedish municipal planning

While ecosystem-based planning approaches are increasingly promoted through international and national policies, municipalities are still struggling with translating them into practice. Against this background, this paper aims to increase the knowledge of current advances and possible ways to support the implementation of the ecosystem services (ES) approach at the municipal level. More specifically, we analyze how ES have been integrated into comprehensive planning within the municipality of Malmö in Sweden over the last 60 years, a declared forerunner in local environmental governance. Based on a content analysis of comprehensive plans over the period 1956–2014 and interviews with municipal stakeholders, this paper demonstrates how planning has shifted over time toward a more holistic view of ES and their significance for human well-being and urban sustainability. Both explicit and implicit applications of the ES concept were found in the analyzed comprehensive plans and associated programs and projects. Our study shows how these applications reflect international, national, and local policy changes, and indicates how municipalities can gradually integrate the ES approach into comprehensive planning and facilitate the transition from implicit to more explicit knowledge use.     

Policy and Practice

Saudi Arabia has recently begun to implement its General Environmental Regulations. The main purpose is to ensure that environmental considerations are taken into account at all levels of planning with an emphasis on incorporating EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) into development activities. However, there is a need to develop a broad framework of SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) for the proper integration of sustainability into decision‐making processes. This paper reviews and discusses a framework for ensuring sustainability in Saudi Arabia, particularly at the local level. The paper develops guidelines and a framework for implementing the principles of sustainability in Saudi municipalities through SEA.     

APPLICATION OF FAIRNESS CONSIDERATIONS TO PHOSPHORUS CONTROL POLICIES1

ABSTRACT: Alternate solutions to a contemporary water resource management problem are developed: 53 municipalities in Wisconsin's Lake Michigan watershed must reduce their phosphorus input to the lake by 85 percent of their influent load. Different definitions of fairness, based on legal and philosophical principles, form the foundation for 18 distinct policy options. The definitions of fairness include: (1) contractual agreement; (2) precedent; (3) the market system; (4) egalitarianism; and (5) equal treatment of equals and differential treatment of unequals, with equals defined in terms of need, worth, ability to pay, who receives the benefits, and the dictates of existing technology. Two alternatives are seen to dominate: (A) municipalities could form contractual relationships to meet the removal requirement as groups, and enjoy least cost operating schedules that save money for members of each group; and (B) whereas 20 of the municipalities collect 91 percent of all phosphorus collected in the watershed, a removal of 90 percent of their influent phosphorus alone ensures that the watershed meets the standard. Under this option, the other 33 municipalities are not required to remove phosphorus. Reasons for the dominance of the two policies are discussed in detail.     

The Use of Local Sustainability Indicators: case studies in two Swedish municipalities1

This article contributes to the debate on the role of local sustainability indicators in ongoing democratisation efforts. We examine the extent to which five different systems of local sustainability indicators within two Swedish municipalities—Stockholm and Sundsvall—are either expert or citizen oriented, and relate these findings to the indicator systems' profile, function and political/ administrative context. Even though three of the indicator systems can be classified as citizen oriented, there are few signs of true engagement and dialogue with the citizens over a longer period of time. The remaining two indicator systems are expert oriented with an environmental focus. Hence, we conclude that the systems in use are largely symbolic responses to the demands for democracy within the agenda for sustainable development albeit attempts to include environmental, economic, social and democratic perspectives of sustainability. Despite the fact that Stockholm and Sundsvall show differences in governing styles in their approaches to sustainability indicators it seems difficult for both municipalities to put sustainable development into practice in terms of citizen participation.     

Surrender or resistance to the implementation of Local Agenda 21 in Portugal: the challenges of local governance for sustainable development

The aim of this paper is to understand how Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is contributing to update local policy and decision making towards sustainable development in Portugal. Departing from a theoretical view of governance for sustainable development – its core values and challenges – and the role of LA21 in its endorsement, the paper presents the main results of a questionnaire survey submitted to Portuguese municipalities, with the purpose of understanding how far LA21 is being incorporated into planning and management. The paper then tries to expose some of the main potential, limitations and challenges in the local Portuguese case for the short-term sustainable future.     

Mainstreaming climate change adaptation at the local level

National authorities in many countries aim at having climate change adaptation mainstreamed into existing policy domains in order to achieve coherence and synergies, and to avoid mal-adaptation. Because of local variations in climate change impacts, the lion's share of climate adaptation work will have to take place at the local level. This means also that the mainstreaming process needs to occur locally. This article examines the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into existing sectors in five Norwegian municipalities. Applying theories of mainstreaming and policy integration we find that policy development is slower, but perhaps more robust in the municipalities that have chosen a horizontal, cross-sectoral approach to mainstreaming than in the municipalities that have chosen a vertical sector approach to mainstreaming.