The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) believes an unsettling trend – particularly attributed to the United States Tea Party – of anti-sustainability activists attempting to stop local efforts to make communities greener, more liveable, and more prosperous.
These attacks are stifling constructive community dialogues on how to plan for the future.
ICLEI, a global association of around 1200 cities, calls local communities to become more engaged in local government planning processes that will help shape the future of their cities.
Its president and former councilour of Vancouver – Canada, David Cadman said business leaders, environmentalists, labour leaders, neighbourhood group leaders and people from across the political spectrum all have an important role to play in discussing and debating policies.
“We need bottom-up solutions,” he said.
“Many communities and their people around the world are trying to answer the same questions; How can we maintain a good life in our cities, make them prosperous and places worth living? How can we become resilient and face the challenges ahead in a viable way? What kind of environment do we want to leave for our children?”
ICLEI reaffirms its stance that cities and local governments should define their own goals and objectives to protect clean air and water, increase energy independence, prepare for climate change and extreme weather, and become more economically competitive in the process.
Its secretary general, Konrad Otto-Zimmerman said local solutions to global challenges are needed more than ever at a time of a global economic crisis; increasingly severe weather events; and with the challenge of providing more clean and low-risk energy.
According to ICLEI the attacks seem to be targeted particularly against an organisation with offices all over the world that is firmly rooted in regional and locally lead initiatives, while attempting to also make the voice of local governments heard globally.
Bridging this gap is vital and it seems that the complexity of the topic of global climate change and sustainability has caused some extremists to believe in wild conspiracy theories, instead of seeing sense in community planning for the future.
“We need to look ahead, create more jobs and a stable economy, find long-lasting and affordable solutions to urban challenges such as housing, transport and power supply”, said environment secretary for Mexico City, Martha Delgado, who is responsible for millions of livelihoods in one of the world largest cities.
“People in their communities should be involved in local activities, and make sure we focus on the issues – not conspiracy theories with no basis in fact.”
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