An Environmental Plan for the New City of Toronto: How to Make It ...

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3 LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS All six of the plans reviewed seek to achieve the same goal in terms of improved environmental quality and all (with the exception of Vancouver) explicitly seek to achieve sustainability. They differ in their basic approach to elicit change: Hamilton-Wentworth, Manchester, and Seattle) identified a vision and then set out a course of action, with measurable targets; Lancashire and Vancouver undertook an audit to assess what the conditions and stresses were, then identified strategies to remedy them. Yet they have many elements which appear to be common criteria for their apparent successes, and many similar experiences in barriers to implementation. These are lessons which the Environmental Task Force can benefit from in developing the Environmental Plan for the City of Toronto. The primary element of successful implementation, identified in all the case studies, is political will. Without the approval of the majority of councillors the crucial implementing policies, strategies, programs and capital investments will not happen. Another key element is corporate commitment, which all plans are dependent upon to be successfully initiated, launched and implemented. A key ingredient of both [political will and corporate ownership] is the degree of ownership of affinity the community has to the particular plan [or underlying concept that the plan is promoting]. A vocal, supportive community can sway uncommitted councillors and the political commitment can in turn, advance the environmental /sustainability agenda for staff. The review of case studies revealed a number of mechanisms for evoking [ensuring] community ownership including community partnerships in plan development such as Lancashire’s ‘Environmental Forum’ or Hamilton-Wentworth’s ‘Task Force on Sustainable Development’; an engaging vision; a document that is easy to understand; and annual promotional events, awards or periodic ‘report cards’ on progress in achieving goals. International recognition, whether through membership in Local Agenda 21 or for exemplary work such as Manchester’s draft City-Region 2020 document is also an important political motivator. Corporate commitment necessitates buy-in beyond the initiating department, as the nature of the environmental sustainability requires action in areas beyond the mandate and responsibility of just one department. This was recognized as an issue in Lancashire, Vancouver and Hamilton-Wentworth where remedies included inter-departmental working groups, staff ‘training’ sessions and distribution [communication] of the document to all employees. Other fundamental 27
criteria were identification of a periodic review cycle, guidelines for sustainable decision making and strategies for ensuring action such as regulations, Charters or clear reference to implementation mechanisms such as capital budgets, Official Plan policies, and programs. 3.1 Recommendations Community Ownership Community ownership was a key element of success for almost all the case studies reviewed. This involved ownership by the wider community, that is, beyond the converted environmental activists to ordinary citizens and other sectors such as the business community. on process Part of Hamilton-Wentworth's success in moving the sustainability agenda forward has been the broad-based community support the concept has enjoyed, achieved through extensive consultation in preparation of Vision 2020, and sustained public profile through many initiatives such as annual ‘sustainability days’ and an annual report card. A simple, understandable writing style with engaging concepts, such as Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan, and a well articulated vision also emerged as important elements in promoting community ownership. Community consultation and partnerships Both Hamilton-Wentworth and Lancashire engaged the community in preparation of their respective plans through participation on working groups. Toronto has always had a high degree of citizen participation in environmental initiatives (Salsberg, 1998, pg. 40) and the Environmental Plan is no exception. Toronto’s Environmental Plan is a product of the Environmental Task Force, whose membership includes councillors, representatives from the environmental community and agencies, concerned citizens, school boards and labour. However, the Environmental Task Force is a task force of council with an eighteen month time line, and there is a need for a community based group to retain ownership of the Environmental Plan and champion sustainability issues. The Task Force’s draft report on governance options suggests exactly that with the proposal to create either a ‘Sustainability Roundtable’ or ‘Sustainability Board’ with a membership of councillors, the community and environmental stakeholders to provide advice to city council on sustainability issues. 28
Page 1 and 2: An Environmental Plan for the New C
Page 3 and 4: Executive Summary The new Environme
Page 5 and 6: address implications for applicatio
Page 7 and 8: The United Nations defines sustaina
Page 9 and 10: the principles of the Natural Step
Page 11 and 12: to engage people in a discussion of
Page 13 and 14: commitment to “follow the princip
Page 15 and 16: Political commitment is everything
Page 17 and 18: 2.3.4 Key elements of Success Poli
Page 19 and 20: 2.4.3 Implementation The Comprehens
Page 21 and 22: 2.5.2 Process: Plan Development The
Page 23 and 24: 2.5.4 Key elements of Success Poli
Page 25 and 26: how developing/implementing long te
Page 27: The Environmental Policy is to appl
Page 31 and 32: towards sustainability. As actions
Page 33 and 34: is not legally binding, but is an i
Page 35 and 36: 4 CONCLUSIONS 34
Page 37 and 38: 17. Ravetz, Joe, City-Region 2020:
Page 39 and 40: Appendix 1 Interview Questions 1. W

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