Riga’s AC Baseline Review

Säästva Eesti Institute

08.04.2009

Heidi Tuhkanen, SEI-Tallinn Centreheidi.tuhkanen@seit.ee

Background

• 2004 Riga City Council officially endorsed Aalborg Commitments

• Riga Environment Centre “Agenda 21” – task of coordinating the implementation of the Commitments,

– including undertaking the initial Aalborg Commitments Baseline Review.

AC implementation foresees...

Within 12 months• Preparation of an integrated Aalborg Commitments Baseline Review

• A local participatory target setting process that incorporates existing LA 21 or other local sustainability action planning and takes into consideration the results of the local baseline review;

• Prioritization of tasks, aiming to address the ten groups of Commitments;

Within 24 months• Setting of individual local targets and timeframes related to the targets that are suitable to demonstrate progress on adopted Commitments;

Ongoingly• Making available to residents a regular Aalborg Commitments monitoring review of achievements

• Regular provision of information on targets and progress to the European Sustainable Cities & Towns Campaign.

Method & Content: Policy Analysis

Compilation and analysis of SD policies• EU, National, Local (Riga) – policy documents

Comparative analysis against AC points• Analysis of the statutes of the municipal government and administration

to identify which points are the legal responsibility of the municipality.

• Analysis of municipal sector plans to identify which points are included as policy goals and measures in the development policies of the municipal administration;

• Analysis of draft Riga Development Plan (2006-2018) to determine its coherence and its degree of orientation towards sustainable development.

Method & Content: Survey

To determine views to SD aspects• Riga City Council deputies (7 responses)

• municipal government administrative units (20 responses) and

• personnel (44 responses)

Survey Method• written questionnaires

• a slightly different questionnaire was used for each of the three groups surveyed

Method & Content: Report

Baseline Review

• Describes the extent to which the AC are addressed by

– municipal statutes and planning documents and

– reflected in the work of the municipal government and administration.

• Presents recommendations concerning implementation of the Aalborg Commitments and sustainable development in Riga.

Baseline review revealed....

• 11 years had passed since Riga set a course towards SD (1994-2004)

• Gap between AC and reality in– Responsibilities and tasks defined in the statutes of the

municipal government and administration;

– The goals and measures defined in municipal sector development and planning documents;

– The goals and measures defined in the Riga Development Plan (2006-2018).

Survey revealed....

Survey revealed....

Analysis of Municipal Statutes

• 33 of 50 ACs are not addressed or are only partially reflected

AC GROUPINGS

• Represented: AC groups 1-3

• Partially represented: AC groups 4, 7 ,9

• Weak: AC groups 5, 6, 8, 10

Thus, basic responsibilities and tasks of the municipal administration personnel is insufficiently oriented towards sustainability...

Analysis of Municipal Statutes

• Riga Development Plan (2006-2018) is partially consistent with AC in terms of defined goals, but not policy measures.

• Also not the basis for daily work of Municipal administration – rather using respective administrative unit’s statutes and sector plan(s).

Monitoring

• Riga was using 2 indicator sets to monitor SD trends – neither was complete for assessing comprehensive enough to reflect AC

• Trends analysis using available indicators showed development trends partially contrary to AC

Recommendations

1. Supplement municipal statutes to more fully reflect the issues defined by the AC to orient urban development policy goals and measures towards sustainability.

2. Include SD as a goal in the municipal government and administration statutes.

3. Management structures - Political support for the coordinated implementation of the AC and sustainable development in Riga should be strengthened either by activating the Riga City Agenda 21 Council or by founding a new management structure with the Riga City Council to coordinate the promotion and implementation of sustainable development.

Recommendations

4. Define specific goals for all the AC points when developing new sector plans or a municipal sustainable development management plan, or when updating existing sector plans. Currently limited coherence between municipal sector plans and the AC. The municipal budget should be linked to the goals and priorities defined in municipal sector plans.

Recommendations

5. Create Municipal administration intersectoral working groups to formulate AC consistent development goals for inclusion in municipal planning documents and to review draft decisions and development proposals before official approval. To ensure policy goals/measures are consistent with the needs of different community and social groups, community and social groups should be provided with the opportunity to participate in municipal intersectoral working groups and, additionally, public consultative councils should be formed to deal with specific issues.

Recommendations

6. Give priority to those Aalborg Commitment groups that are most poorly reflected/represented in municipal sector plans and in the Riga Development Plan (2006-2018), and those Commitment groups for which existing indicators demonstrate unfavorable (unsustainable) trends when formulating appropriate goals, targets and measures.

7. Formulate sustainability indicators for all goals/targets defined in municipal plans that are consistent with the Aalborg Commitments, in order to measure/monitor progress towards sustainability. The municipality on a regular basis should prepare, publish and make available to the public an Aalborg Commitment implementation status report that highlights progress towards the achievement of defined targets.

Recommendations

8. Establish Inter-governmental working groups to address urban development issues relevant to Riga that can only be addressed successfully through cooperation with other municipalities and other levels of government.

9. Raise the awareness, knowledge and skills level of Riga City Council deputies and administration personnel regarding their ability to work with sustainable development issues using a number of methods. (training, information, SD criteria to evaluate work, training on why and how to involve public, etc)

Thank you!

Any Questions?