TITLE:
Education on Sustainable Development based on Local Agenda 21
AUTHORS:
Constantina Skanavis, Polytimi Zacharaki, Christos Giannoulis, Vasiliki Petreniti
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Policy, Local Agenda 21, Education, Sustainable Development, Greece, Evaluation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.2 No.4,
June
17,
2011
ABSTRACT: The study is contextualized through evaluating the implementation of Local Agenda Action Plan (LAAP). The goal was to address environmental challenges facing a city under the framework of sustainable development and planning. The evaluation of this conceptual framework was tested at a selected municipality of Athens (Greece), that has used a LAAP. The research was based on a structured questionnaire survey of a sample of 300 respondents selected from municipal employees (100 persons) and citizens of the selected municipality (200 persons). Analysis and interpretation of data through descriptive and factor analysis statistics establish that both municipality employees and citizens are primarily concerned with issues of environmental management. They firmly believe that sustainability initiatives at municipality might best be implemented through a collaborative approach at the local community level, involving local citizens working in partnership with local government. Furthermore, the study established the importance of education, aware-ness and training as a response to environmental issues currently facing the municipality. The awareness and training activities should be developed and should involve the members of the community in the needed environmental manage-ment processes. In view of the Decade Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO 2005-2015), this should en-able the Council to create opportunities for income generation, while simultaneously promoting citizens’ environmental responsible behaviors and improving service delivery by municipality employees.