GRASP Training: The Involvement of the Local Community and Environmental Issues

20-21 November 2003, Bucharest

The event was organized by the National Centre for Sustainable Development. It was attended by 25 local officers from 13 cities involved in the extension phase of the LA21 project, as well as by UNDP representatives, representatives of the Programme for the Reform of the Public Administration (GRASP)/ Development Alternatives, Inc., and the NCSD team.

Dr. Gheorghe Onut, the project consultant, professor of sociology at Transylvania University in Brasov, opened the discussion on the involvement of local communities in the Local Agenda 21 project by addressing the following topics:

- How to deal with a city which resists change;

- How to deal and communicate with a community which has been split by a past issue (such as the Dracula Park dispute in Sighisoara);

- How to get the civil society to respond to a programme;

- How to deal with the issue of citizens who are looking for personal gain out of the LA21 project and are not interested in the good of the community.
The second part of the seminar was devoted to the environmental issues relating to the Local Agenda 21 implementation in Romania. This discussion was led by Dr. Angheluta Vadineanu, professor, Department of Systemic Ecology, University of Bucharest, who covered the following topics:

- General definitions and explanation of Local Agenda 21 and of the principle of sustainable development;

- How do we interpret nature and the environment?

- Natural capital;

- The decision support system for the integrated imple,entation of the Local Agenda 21 project.

The seminar concluded with a presentation and discussion led by Dan Apostol, editorial consultant for the National Centre for Sustainable Development, on the process of editing and publishing the Local Plans for Sustainable Development.

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