The State of Sustainable Development: Perspectives from the Subnational Level

Abstract

The chapters in this volume have given an account of a multitude of subnational activities for sustainable development. The issue has clearly found its way on to the subnational policy agenda, and subnational governments have taken many initiatives to institutionalize it. In some cases, new approaches were initiated only recently, such as in the Basque Country, Flanders and Wallonia. The book also shows that subnational governments are pushed to `go international' for sustainable development, trying to influence regional and global decision-making and trying to gain international visibility for their own efforts. However, it is also clear that sustainable development's general appeal is lower now than it was at the time of the Rio Summit or the Johannesburg Summit. In some cases, the enthusiasm has faded and the meta-concept of sustainable development has difficulties in staying on the polítical agenda, where it is replaced by increased attention on more specific policy issues (such as climate change). The situation is thus ambiguous, and future developments will point out whether sustainable development remains an attractive concept to guide policy-making.