Title: Implementing Local Agenda 21 in Europe: a case study of Boras, Sweden

Authors: Cheryl Rodgers

Addresses: University of Portsmouth, UK

Abstract: One of the most significant outputs of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio in 1992 was Agenda 21 (A21,) a |blueprint for implementing sustainable development| (Voisey and Beuermann 1996.) Local Agenda 21 (LA21) attempts to translate the international challenges of Agenda 21 into local, community-oriented initiatives. This case study reports on the exceptional achievements of an LA21 initiative of Boras - a town in Sweden. This research analyses the factors that have been critical to its success and the results illustrate the importance of the external LA21 catalyst. The findings also suggest that in the globalisation of environmental concerns, the bottom-up approach of LA21 may, in the long run, be as significant in moving towards sustainable development as top-down national and international approaches.

Keywords: Local Agenda 21; Europe; Sweden; UNCED; sustainable development; sustainability; bottom-up approach; community-oriented initiatives.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.1999.053840

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 1999 Vol.1 No.2, pp.1 - 16

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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