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The participation of citizens
has been active since the moment the city council of Seville decided
to sign the Aalborg letter
in 1996. (One of its main rules was that the local authorities in each city
encouraged its citizens to take part in the decision making process)
At a local level, in Seville, this
participation has been led to several synergies that are providing a solution
to several problems simultaneously. At the same time, citizens are informing
the local Administration of the needs and interests of the population.
Furthermore, it has provided a greater sense of local identity amongst the
population and has also created more trust of and better relations with the
municipality.
This collaboration has been possible on the one hand due to the will of the
Local Administration to provide citizens with the ability to take part in the
decision making process in relation to environmental concerns. For that reason
the Environmental and Local Council for Sustainability was created. On the
other hand, there are several mediums through which information is provided to citizens,that contributes to
making the information more reliable. Finally ,it is
important to point out the creation of different organs, activities and
informational mediums intended to simplify the participation of the citizens
such as the Environmental and Local Council, but also, the AL21 website,
questionnaires that support the AL21 process, informational sessions held in
the city district, the Working Group, and more.
Since the beginning, there has
been in the city of Seville the
awareness of how to carry out the implementation of the AL21 process. For that
challenge it is important to involve all the local agents of the city because
the City Council has defended the participation of the different collectives in
the Participation Forum. Its aim is to make people take an active role in
defining and diagnosing the city environment, formulating an action plan and
participating in the decision making process.
www.conama.es
www.agenda21local.com
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