Preparation of the Brazilian Agenda 21

Agenda 21, like other international documents, is important because it is signed by the community of nations. But the true significance, the historical significance of these documents is afforded by the social and political use that society makes of them. The most remarkable example we have, and which shows that we cannot expect immediate results when we speak of the Agenda 21, is the Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948. It remained in oblivion for several decades, until the seventies, when it became an essential document for the contemporary world.

Agenda 21 was a major international negotiating effort to produce a consensus and a program with a certain degree of operationality for mankind for sustainable development.

The implementation of sustainable development implies incorporating the concern for sustainability in all levels of policy formulation; establishing the principles to guide this process, from policy macro statements, through macro guidelines and sectoral strategies, to the execution of programs of actions, going through the conception, implementation, monitoring and assessment of government efforts in partnership with organized society, in order to characterize a large structure capable of constant feedback and allowing for an increasingly more qualified in the formulation of consistent policies.

It is important to highlight that the Rio Conference, in contrast to the 1972 Stockholm Conference, was directed towards development, and that Agenda 21 is not an environmental agenda, but a sustainable development agenda where, obviously, the environment is a major concern. The focus of this planning project, introduced with the name of Agenda 21, is not restricted to issues concerning the preservation and conservation of nature, but it is a proposal that breaks away with the type of planning employed over the past few decades, with a predominantly economic focus. The Agenda considers strategic issues related to the generation of jobs and income; to the decrease of regional and interpersonal income disparities; to the changes in consumption and production patterns; to the building of sustainable cities; to the adoption of new management models and instruments.

In sum, Agenda 21 should express a participatory and strategic planning that establishes the priorities to be defined and executed in a partnership of government and society. Agenda 21, thus, brings to the forefront of the international arena the need for strategic, decentralized and participatory planning.

In terms of initiatives the Agenda leaves no doubt, Governments have the prerogative and the responsibility for initiating and facilitating the process of implementation at all levels. In addition to governments, the Agenda seeks to mobilize all segments of society, calling them "relevant actors" and "sustainable development partners".

This processual and gradual conception for validating the concept implies in assuming that the principles and premises that should guide the implementation of Agenda 21 are not an exhaustive list: to turn the Agenda into reality is above all a social process in which actors slowly agree to new consensus and build a feasible Agenda in direction of an expected sustainable future.

As a result, all the actors participating in the process should concentrate their efforts on the task of recreating the institutional-political mechanisms necessary for long-term actions, inherent to the concept of sustainable development.

The main lesson of the successes and failures of planning experiences has been the understanding that the process is more important that the report-outcome, independent of the technical capacities of those who drafted it. The transforming power of planning depends directly on the involvement of the agents that are significant for a particular issue.

In this sense, the Brazilian Agenda 21 aims to assess the vulnerabilities and potentialities of the country, to implement a sustainable development model, determining strategies and lines of action co-operated or shared among the public sector and civil society.

 Methodology for Developing the Brazilian Agenda 21

 Discussion of the proposals in the Brazilian States and Regions

 Challenges in the Development of an Agenda 21 for Brazil

 Preliminary Conclusions

Priority Actions

The Brazilian Agenda 21: Priority Actions In this second printing of the document Brazilian Agenda 21 - Priority Actions, we reaffirm Brazil's commitment to Rio 92, countersigned during the Johannesburg Conference in 2002.

Agenda 21 News

The Brazilian Agenda 21 Implementation

The beginning of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government has coincided with the Brazilian Agenda 21 stage of implementation. Its importance as a tool to launch democracy, civil society participation and action has been recognized by this new government and its guidelines were included in the Government's Plan as well as in its strategic framework. (further information)

Agenda 21 as a Governmental Program

The Brazilian Agenda 21 is now a Program of the Pluriannual Plan - PPA 2004 - 2007 (The PPA is the tool through which national expenditures are ordained). As a program, it is politically and institutionally stronger, becoming a key instrument to build structural public policies.

The Agenda 21 Program takes its experience to Italy

The Agenda 21 Program Coordinator, Pedro Ivo Batista, participated in the Assemblea Nacionale che si terrà a Venezia, on March 26th and 27th, in Venice-Italy, by invitation of the Associazione Nazionale delle Agende 21 Locale Italiane www.a21italy.it.
(further information)

"Les Journèes Alternatives" Seminar

Mr. Pedro Ivo Batista, coordinator of the Brazilian Agenda 21, participated in the Seminar "Les Journèes Alternatives" in Montreal, Canadá, where he spoke about participatory democracy in Brazil and the Agenda 21 implementation. The event, that took place on August 27 to 29, celebrated the 10th anniversary of Alternatives, a civil organization for international solidarity with its headquarters in Montreal.

Fonte: MMA www.mma.gov.br