This report has been prepared to assist government managers and policy-makers in taking strategic and coordinated action toward sustainable development at the national level. This action is most commonly referred to as a national sustainable development strategy-a process that represents a transition from the traditional fixed plan "towards operating an adaptive system that can continuously improve.
Download report here.
The paper captures the diffusion of Sustainable Development Councils (SCDs), providing analysis of different models regarding tasks and function, as well as good practice examples and some insights on failures and challenges. As there is little data available for the global picture, the article focuses on Europe, where it is based on surveys and other studies.
To read the full report click here.
Sustainable Development Councils were among the few specific recommendations for institution building to come out of Rio in 1992. At their best the councils manifest Agenda 21's call for new participatory arrangements. At their worst they represent the frustrations and unmet challenges of the thirteen years since Rio. In this paper, Jonathan Rosenberg and Linus Spencer Thomas compare attempts to establish councils in three Caribbean states: Grenada, Dominica, and St. Lucia. The cases offer lessons in the survivability of deliberative bodies concerned with sustainable development policy and raise questions about their efficacy.
The full paper is available here.
Sustainable Development Councils (SDCs) cumulate and widen the functions of individual organisations of civil society. Through their link to a wide range of political actors and leadership in sustainability, and the expertise combined in the council, they build up additional weight to the political sounding and creativity provided by civil society organisations (CSOs). The Brundtland Commission and subsequently Agenda 21 have promoted to establish SD councils, both however more with the concept of a formal representation than with the aspiration of nowadays SDCs to fostering dialogue among stakeholders, and between stakeholders and government, as well as monitoring progress and encouraging initiatives and innovation for SD.
National Councils for Sustainable Development(NCSDs): what are they and why are they important? Created orsanctioned by national governments,NCSDs bring together members of government or both government and civilsociety to define sustainable development within a particular national context.
To read the full report click here.