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Projects > projects > agenda21
Local Agenda 21 - A Sustainable Fremantle
How Do We Want To See Our City, And In Fact The World, In The 21st Century?
Local Agenda 21 is an initiative of the United Nations conference on Environment and Development known as the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. It calls for local ownership for the future of our planet and deals with the social, economic and natural environments and ties them together through the idea of sustainability. It acknowledges the need for economic development however recognises the critical importnace of the social and natural aspects of the environment.
Sustainability has its aim in allowing development that does not overuse or waste resources thus ensuring opportunities for development to continue well into the future. A commonly referred to phrase on sustainability states that it should be "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It is also tied to the realisation that the actions of this generation and previous generations will have direct consequences for a our children and the following generations.
Local Government was identified as the best area to introduce Local Agenda 21 (LA21) as it is the closest form of government to the people. It has a close relationship to local population and can contribute to the role of educating, mobilising and responding to the public to promote sustainable development.
Fremantle Council is formally committed to Local Agenda 21.
Although at this stage no formal Local Agenda 21 plan has been adopted by council. Actions which fit with the philosophy of Local Agenda 21 have been occurring for some time, facilitiated by different areas of Council.
Examples of these include:
- Chemical Free Weed Control
- The Sustainable Verge program
- A Strong Heritage philosophy
- Household Recycling
- Participation opportunities through the Fremantle Community Precinct System
- A Major tree planting program and development of a Green Plan for the City of Fremantle
- A Community group sponsorship program
- A Community information service - Fre-info
- A recently developed Youth Policy
Council is continuing to investigate ways of making its operations more sustainable and is working indicators to assess the effectiveness of these initatives.
In late 1998, Council committed to joining the Cities for Climate Protection Program.
This program involves assessing both the Councils and Fremantle's Greenhouse Gas Missions and setting community targets for reduction of these emissions. Council is undertaking the first phase of this program and determining its current greenhouse emissions.
The City of Fremantle is also a member of the Western Australian Municipal Association's Local Government Local Agenda 21 Advisory Group. This group of 11 Council's works to support of each other and other Councils in encouraging the development and implementation of Local Agenda 21 Plans and other Sustainable activities.
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