Suchergebnisse

peer-reviewed ; Among the significant changes confronting local government in Ireland during 2016 was a reorganisation of its parent department. Following the general election and protracted negotiations on the formation of a government, responsibility for local government was placed within the newly created Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. Some functions previously dealt with by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, such as rural development and regional affairs, were transferred to the newly configured Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

In order to secure an environmentally sustainable future, the world's local governments must begin to restructure social and economic life at the local level. The problems of solid waste, water pollution, transnational air pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozonedepletion, forest and soil loss, and environmental degradation in the developing world cannot adequately be addressed without a thorough mobilization at the local governmentlevel. By the end of the 20th century more than half of the world's population will live in urban areas. As the centers of industrialized life, cities are the major sources of garbage, sewage, chemical wastes, greenhouse gases and ozone depleting compounds. Standards fordealing with these wastes can be set at the national and international government levels, but such standards can only be implemented in an effective and timely way with local government assistance. Globally, local governments are often in the best position to correct unsustainable land use, construction, transportation, energy, agriculture and waste management practices of modern life. As local government leaders, we gather for a World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, as a first step in exchanging successful local strategies, in alliance with the United Nations for the development and implementation of a global environmentalagenda. We further call for the establishment of an International Secretariat for Local Environmental Initiatives to coordinate, assist and promote local government implementation of sound environmental policy.