The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
five main components:
• the definition of concrete performance targets based upon the 11 target areas and their respective action
recommendations;
• the institution of an internal, municipal decision-making process to assure that all departmental proposals to a
Council Committee—including policies, budgets, and work programs—are reviewed according to their contribution
(or contradiction) to VISION 2020;
• the creation of a set of performance indicators to monitor progress towards implementation of VISION 2020;
• the convening of an annual “Sustainable Community Day,” where the municipality, citizens, and other sectors and
institutions come together to share their actions and progress towards VISION 2020; and
• municipal staff review of VISION 2020 itself, based upon the indicators and the outcomes of the Sustainable
Community Day.
This reporting and feedback system is illustrated in Figure 21.
Signposts on the Trail to VISION 2020—Sustainable Development Indicators
The Sustainable Community Indicators Project began in the summer of 1994, in partnership with the ICLEI and McMaster
University’s Environmental Health Program and the Health of the Public Project. The purpose of the project was to develop a set of
indicators for measuring the community’s progress against VISION 2020. The Indicators Project provided a set of measures to
monitor the implementation of VISION 2020 through key statutory plans such as the:
• Regional Official Plan, called The Sustainable Region;
• Regional Transportation Review;
• Comprehensive Municipal Pollution Prevention Plan; and the
• Renaissance Project (the strategic plan for long-term economic development).
The indicators will serve as a critical mechanism in linking projects together by emphasizing the overriding goal of VISION 2020.
The first step in the development of indicators was the distribution of a questionnaire to the participants in the first annual
Sustainable Community Day in June 1994. This questionnaire provided municipal staff with an indication of the kinds of conditions
and trends that residents consider indicative of progress towards sustainability. Through a review of these findings and existing
programs and initiatives, the Indicators Project Team drafted a first set of 60 indicators. These were grouped into the 11 areas for
policy change that are targeted in VISION 2020. A target was then defined for each potential indicator.
The following criteria guided the selection of indicators:
MEASURABILITY
The indicator must be measurable and not a statement of intent or vision. It should be sensitive to any improvement or deterioration
in the condition it targets. Results should be useful to decision makers.
COST/EASE OF COLLECTION
Data needed for the measurement of the indicator must be available on a frequent basis to monitor trends, and must be accessible at a
minimal cost. Ideally, the data should be drawn from existing research and/or monitoring programs.
CREDIBILITY AND VALIDITY
The indicators should be unambiguous and their relevance should be self-evident or easily understood by residents of the Region.
The standards of measurement should be consistent over time so that indicators will be comparable from year to year.
http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (147 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM