Internationalisation of the Environment: the Local Perspective

Abstract

Last ned gratis "Think globally, act locally" is a slogan from the Brundtland-report twenty years ago. Since then several Nordic as well as other European cities and local communities have responded to this call for local action. Local Agenda 21 highlighted local responsibility for sustainable development through decentralisation and participation. Meanwhile, the internationalisation of environmental policies has resulted in international agreements and regimes influencing and constraining local policies and action on specific topics. International expectations and demands (EU-directives as one example) might constrain the autonomy of local governments in developing a local policy for sustainable development, but they can also represent opportunities for local action. The papers discuss how local and regional governments face these challenges to local governance of combining the demands from above with the expectations from below.