EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results Provided by the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) "Environmental Governance and Institutions -- Agenda 21: Number of formally committed municipalities" "Units: number" ,,2001,1996, World "World","",6416,1812, ,,2001,1996, Region/Classification "Asia (excluding Middle East)","",461,87, "Central America & Caribbean","",26,.., "Europe","",5291,1576, "Middle East & North Africa","",98,8, "North America","",101,26, "Oceania","",213,44, "South America","",93,34, "Sub-Saharan Africa","",133,35, "Developed Countries","",5738,1681, "Developing Countries","",678,131, "High Income Countries","",5577,1641, "Low Income Countries","",191,49, "Middle Income Countries","",648,122, ,,2001,1996, Country "Albania","ALB",7,1, "Algeria","DZA",3,.., "Argentina","ARG",1,.., "Australia","AUS",176,40, "Austria","AUT",64,2, "Bahrain","BHR",1,.., "Bangladesh","BGD",2,.., "Belgium","BEL",106,5, "Benin","BEN",1,.., "Bolivia","BOL",1,13, "Bosnia and Herzegovina","BIH",1,.., "Brazil","BRA",36,8, "Bulgaria","BGR",22,.., "Burundi","BDI",2,.., "Cameroon","CMR",1,.., "Canada","CAN",14,7, "Chile","CHL",15,1, "China","CHN",25,14, "Colombia","COL",6,4, "Congo, Dem Rep","COD",2,.., "Costa Rica","CRI",4,.., "Croatia","HRV",20,1, "Cuba","CUB",2,.., "Cyprus","CYP",1,.., "Czech Rep","CZE",42,.., "Denmark","DNK",216,147, "Dominica","DMA",1,.., "Ecuador","ECU",13,3, "Egypt","EGY",7,1, "Estonia","EST",29,1, "Finland","FIN",303,88, "France","FRA",69,15, "Gabon","GAB",1,.., "Germany","DEU",2042,30, "Ghana","GHA",3,1, "Greece","GRC",39,13, "Guyana","GUY",1,.., "Honduras","HND",6,.., "Hungary","HUN",9,12, "Iceland","ISL",37,.., "India","IND",14,20, "Indonesia","IDN",8,6, "Iran, Islamic Rep","IRN",2,.., "Ireland","IRL",29,22, "Israel","ISR",3,.., "Italy","ITA",429,22, "Jamaica","JAM",5,.., "Japan","JPN",110,26, "Jordan","JOR",4,.., "Kenya","KEN",11,4, "Korea, Rep","KOR",172,9, "Kuwait","KWT",1,.., "Latvia","LVA",5,1, "Lebanon","LBN",6,.., "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya","LBY",2,.., "Lithuania","LTU",14,.., "Luxembourg","LUX",69,1, "Madagascar","MDG",5,.., "Malawi","MWI",4,6, "Malaysia","MYS",9,.., "Mali","MLI",2,.., "Mauritania","MRT",1,.., "Mexico","MEX",2,.., "Mongolia","MNG",22,.., "Morocco","MAR",5,3, "Mozambique","MOZ",2,2, "Namibia","NAM",5,.., "Nepal","NPL",4,1, "Netherlands","NLD",100,143, "New Zealand","NZL",37,3, "Nicaragua","NIC",5,.., "Nigeria","NGA",5,1, "Norway","NOR",283,415, "Oman","OMN",1,.., "Pakistan","PAK",1,.., "Papua New Guinea","PNG",..,1, "Peru","PER",17,5, "Philippines","PHL",28,3, "Poland","POL",70,3, "Portugal","PRT",27,10, "Qatar","QAT",1,.., "Romania","ROU",12,2, "Russian Federation","RUS",29,5, "Rwanda","RWA",1,.., "Saudi Arabia","SAU",4,.., "Senegal","SEN",3,1, "Serbia and Montenegro","YUG",20,.., "Singapore","SGP",1,.., "Slovakia","SVK",30,3, "Slovenia","SVN",3,1, "South Africa","ZAF",20,10, "Spain","ESP",359,29, "Sri Lanka","LKA",24,.., "St. Lucia","LCA",..,2, "Sudan","SDN",1,.., "Sweden","SWE",289,307, "Switzerland","CHE",83,2, "Syrian Arab Rep","SYR",2,.., "Tanzania","TZA",13,3, "Thailand","THA",21,6, "Togo","TGO",2,.., "Trinidad and Tobago","TTO",1,.., "Tunisia","TUN",1,1, "Turkey","TUR",50,3, "Uganda","UGA",5,2, "Ukraine","UKR",9,10, "United Arab Emirates","ARE",2,.., "United Kingdom","GBR",425,285, "United States","USA",87,19, "Venezuela","VEN",3,.., "Viet Nam","VNM",20,2, "Yemen","YEM",2,.., "Zambia","ZMB",4,1, "Zimbabwe","ZWE",39,4, Footnotes No footnotes Source "International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). 2001. Second Local Agenda 21 Survey: Background Paper Number 15. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). " "" "See 2002 update online at http://www.iclei.org/documents/Global/final_document.pdf " "" "International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) in cooperation with the United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (UNDPCSD). 1997. A Study of Responses by Local Authorities and Their National and International Associations to Agenda 21. Toronto: ICLEI." Technical Notes "Definition" "The number of municipalities involved in the Local Agenda 21 (LA21) process measures the number of government authorities that have made a formal commitment to LA21 or are actively undertaking the process. LA21s were created to promote sustainable development at the municipal level in response to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development's call to local governments to create their own agenda outlining local priorities. Since 1992, thousands of municipalities have joined the initiative to generate action plans, implement sustainable development activities, and measure their progress in addressing the environmental, social and economic needs of the communities. " "" "The following criteria were used to identify local authorities undertaking the LA21 process: " "*multisectoral engagement in the planning process through a local stakeholder group; " "*consultation with community partners in order to create a shared vision and to identify proposals for action; " "*participatory assessment of local social, environmental, and economic needs; " "*participatory target setting through negotiations; and" "*monitoring and repoting procedures to track progress and ensure accountability. " "" "Years Covered and Frequency of Update" "The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) has conducted two separate surveys of global LA21 participation, in 1996 and in 2001. Data are updated irregularly, whenever a survey is conducted. " "" "Methodology " "In 2001, a Local Agenda 21 Survey of Local Authority Associations/Insititutions was distributed at the regional, national, and international level to collect quantitative data on the extent of LA21 inititatives on a country-by-country basis. The survey was distributed to 327 associations, including national councils for sustainable development and members of the United Nations Development Program Environment and Resource Group. ICLEI also surveyed local councils and authorities to gather in-depth, qualitative information about the LA21 process. Surveys were completed and sent back to ICLEI via, e-mail, mail and fax. " "" "In 1996, ICLEI also conducted two separate surveys--one at the national level and one at the local level. Again, the national/regional survey was designed to collect quanitative data, while the local survey collected qualitative data about the number of LA21s. " "" "Data Reliability" "While the data can provide a rough approximation of the number of minicipalities involved in LA21s, it does not indicate either 1) the extent of a municipality's involvement or 2) the sizeof the municipality. In some countries, involvement of a few hundred municipalities represents the entire population; in others, only a small percentage. Many of the local participants were ""self-reported"" adherents to LA21 practices, so there mayu be some degree of reporting bias in the survey results. The survey did not have a clearly defined sample size, so rigorous statistical analysis of the results is not possible. In addition, the 1996 and 2001 surveys were not identical (although the definition of an LA21 remained consistent over the time period)."