CENTRE for CROSS BORDER STUDIES
Generating real benefits through practical cross-border cooperation in Ireland
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| Press
Release
21 June 2004
A new report* from the Centre for Cross Border Studies has called on the Departments of the Environment in Belfast and Dublin to create a single local sustainable development logo for the island of Ireland, along the lines of the all-Ireland tourism logo. ‘Towards a Green Isle? Local Sustainable Development on the Island of Ireland’ concludes that such a logo or icon would “symbolise local sustainability on the island of Ireland, help link the great range of sustainability activity, increase public recognition and understanding of sustainability activity, and add the potential of ‘place promotion.”
The study, carried out by a research team drawn from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Environmental Planning and Dublin environmental consultants Motherway Begley Ltd, also proposes a major all-island re-launch of Local Action 21 (LA 21), the local sustainable development programme inaugurated at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and re-branded at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The authors argue that “the all-island dimension can provide a new way of looking at networking and opportunities for mutual learning”. Such an event “could act as a milestone for the shift to a new, implementation focused, all-island version of local sustainable development.” The report concludes that “much progress has been made across the island of Ireland over the past decade, particularly in terms of enhancing the capacity for local sustainability, with the activities of committed individuals, developments in the institutional frameworks and the mobilisation of communities all improving significantly. However this capacity is not yet being used to its full potential.” The report found that while the national policy framework in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland is well-developed, “to date this framework has not been fully successful in embedding sustainability values in local institutions and practices.” In Northern Ireland the lack of a regional strategy for sustainable development – plus less government promotion and the much weaker powers of local councils – has led to an even lower implementation of LA 21 plans and strategies. In the Republic inclusive local partnership bodies such as city and county development boards are well placed to deliver sustainable development. However so far these bodies have “only shown themselves to be capable of planning and goal-setting, with their abilities to implement too nascent to evaluate.” The study’s authors argue that “it is now time to re-launch local sustainable development, and distinct benefit can be secured if this incorporates cross-border co-operation and environmental citizenship.” They point out: “Although the potential for cross-border co-operation in sustainability has been recognised by the North/South Ministerial Council, it is yet to be acted upon.” The study’s authors carried out a survey of all local authorities in Ireland, North and South, and a wide range of social partners in both jurisdictions. They found that 54% of local authorities on the island had begun a LA21 process, and concluded that LA21 had been “very successful in raising awareness of the possibilities of local sustainable development and in stimulating debate on how local areas can contribute to the challenges created by Ireland’s links to a global community facing severe ecological, economic and social problems. The primary concern remains the ability to move from debate to action.” The study highlights a number of case studies of good practice in local sustainable development. Among these are Groundwork (Northern Ireland) which has worked in some of the most difficult interface areas in Belfast (notably in Short Strand/Inner East Belfast, for which it won the Guardian Public Involvement Prize in 2003) to bring people, and particularly children, together in joint projects to promote environmental citizenship; and the Sliabh Beagh Cross Border Partnership in Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone, where an association of 10 community groups has successfully promoted a range of environmental projects around the theme of eco-tourism. These case studies “illustrate the potential of local sustainable development and show how it can incorporate all-island and environmental citizenship dimensions,” the authors conclude. However “in general LA 21 has not generally been sufficiently embedded in truly participatory processes to enable the wider potential of environmental citizenship to take root in an island context of cultural division, and its potential is, for the most part, underdeveloped.” *Towards
a Green Isle? Local Sustainable Development on the Island
of Ireland. Geraint Ellis, Brian Motherway, William J.V.Neill
and Una Hand. Centre for Cross Border Studies, Armagh. Further information from Andy Pollak Geraint Ellis |
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See further information on Local Agenda 21.