41 / 208
[
] 41
Views from the ground: the role of subnational
governments in sustainable development
Maruxa Cardama, Secretary General, Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development
T
wenty years after the Rio Summit, the status quo is
no longer an option. The time we have to provide our
‘one planet and its peoples’ with a comprehensive set of
sustainable development policies and an institutional frame-
work adapted to the needs of the twenty-first century is as
limited as ever. The scale and urgency of the challenge requires
action by all levels of government. It is time to improve our
use of the principle of subsidiarity and acknowledge the impor-
tance of devolving governance, funding, implementation and
accountability to appropriate levels of government, including
at subnational and local level.
Since the Rio Summit in 1992, subnational governments – such as
states, regions, provinces, counties, territories and other intermediate
levels of government – all over the world have been fully involved
in sustainable development processes. They have demonstrated in a
number of ways that their contribution and leadership is essential to
help achieve the objectives of sustainable development on the ground.
Local Agenda 21 initiatives; subnational sustainable development
strategies and councils; territorial thematic strategies in
the environmental field; public-private partnerships; and
decentralized cooperation projects carried out by subna-
tional governments, have significantly evolved over the
past years and shown that the efforts and actions of a
country become stronger when transposed and comple-
mented by governmental stakeholders such as federated
states, regions, cities and other local authorities.
Many of those governmental stakeholders are the
subnational governments that carry out sustainable
development activities at international level, either indi-
vidually or coming together in organizations such as
the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable
Development (nrg4SD).
1
Formed by the subnational
governments that attended the Johannesburg Summit in
2002, nrg4SD is a non-profit international organization
representing subnational governments and associations
of subnational governments at global level in the field of
sustainable development. The network promotes sustain-
P
eople
:
social
inclusion
,
green
jobs
,
education
There is limited time to provide our planet and its peoples with sustainable development policies and an institutional framework for the twenty-first century
Image: nrg4SD