Provincial Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development 1997-2000, Córdoba (Spain)

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Reference Date: 26-07-98

Experience selected in the 1998 Dubai Award for Best Practice, and catalogued as GOOD. ( Best Practices Database.)
País/Country: Spain

United Nations Region: Europe
Ecological region: continental
Activity: Provincial/State
Partnerships: Local Authority. Regional Governement. Non-governmental organization (NGO).

Themes = Environmental Management: ecological sustainability; environmental health; monitoring and control; pollution reduction; resource management. Urban Governance: auditing; management and information systems; metro/urban-wide government; monitoring and evaluation; public administration and management.

Main contact:
Diputación de Córdoba (Local authority)
José Luis Marquez Ruiz
Plaza de Colón, 15
Córdoba
Spain 14071
Tel: +34 957 211 389
Fax: +34 957 21 13 36

Partner:
Department of the Environment for Regional Governement of Andalucia (Regional governement)
Andrés Herrera Gavilán
C/ Tomás de Aquino s/n, 7. planta
Córdoba
Spain 14071
Tel: +34 957 45 32 11
Fax: +34 957 23 90 14
Partner One Support Type: Other/Technical and financial support

Partner:
Federation of Natural Protected spaces of Andalucia (Regional government)
Manuel Arenas Marcos
C/ Héroes de Toledo s/n, Ed. Toledo II
Sevilla
Spain 41006
Tel: +34 954 66 21 11
Fax: +34 954 66 22 53
Partner Two Support Type: Other/Technical, Administrative Organization and Financial Support

Partner:
Córdoba Savings Bank (CAJASUR) (Bank)
José Eduardo Huertas Muñoz
Avda. Ronda de los Tejares, 22-6.
Córdoba
Spain 14001
Tel: +34 957 21 44 20
Fax: +34 957 21 44 20
Partner Three Support Type: Financial Support

Nominating organization:
Comité Nacional Español
D. Marta García Nart
Paseo de la Castellana 67
Ministerio de Fomento
Madrid 28071
SPAIN
Tel: +34-91 597 75 72
Fax: +34-91 597 86 04
E-mail: mgnart@mfom.es

Financial Profile:
Total budget for the year 1998: Pesetas 105,358,008.
Contribution from the Provincial Council of Cordoba: Pesetas 96,358,008. (91%).
Contribution from the Department of the Environment: Pesetas 4,000,000 (3.8%).
Contribution from the Federation of Protected Natural Spaces of Andalusia: Pesetas 3,000,000 (2.8%).
Contribution from CAJASUR Savings Bank: Pesetas 2,000,000 (1.9%).

S U M M A R Y

The plan was approved on the 14-11-97. The plan gathers together the previous environmental management experiences and adds them to a wider and more coherent programme with the specific actions performed by the rest of the Public Administrations. An Environmental Management System is implemented with it, which establishes a proposal, an initial revision of the environmental
initiative, the recording of regulations, a provincial environmental strategy, an environmental strategy, goals and objectives, a management programme and manual, the control and
assessment of the Plan and external communications.

This innovative experience intended to deal with the needs of the towns with equal criteria of sustainability: powers o the matter of urban environment, local town planning, relationships between the different administrations, local plans of action for health, citizens' safety, institutional participation, environmental training and information, external communications, research and development, institutional co-operation and co-ordination. The Plan contains 27 programmes for initiatives with 150 measures classified into technical and financial assistance, environmental training and information and environmental planning. The effects of the Plan at the Provincial Council of Cordoba include the creation of employment and the increase of co-ordination between departments. In the Towns in the Province the effects include:

• Technical assistance: consultancy and reports on the legalising of waste tips, reforestation and environmental voluntary work.
  

• Financial assistance: annual programme of subsidies, campaign for guided visits to natural spaces and environmental facilities in the province, prises and contests.
  

• Environmental education and training: courses, publicity campaigns and technical workshops on environmental subjects. The campaign for awareness AMBIENTALIA 5000, aimed at towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants is a good example.
  

• Environmental planning: studies on Public Fountains, Green Ways, Parks and Gardens, and plagues of Termites in the Province of Cordoba. Preparation of the Provincial Guideline Plan for Worksite Waste and Rubble.

• The Local Public Administration can and must incorporate Environmental Management Systems with the elements of this plan.
  

• The may be extrapolated to other Public Administrations (for example, town Councils) and other national and international regions.
  

• The Plan is a formula for improving the conditions of life for the human settlements in the towns in the province. In particular, those which refer to the habitability, environmental awareness and protection of environmental quality.
  

• The Plan creates long-lasting and sustainable initiatives.
  

• The Plan promotes both citizen and business participation, institutional relations, job creation and the incorporation of the best technology available.

Key Dates

N A R R A T I V E

First thematic block: Situation before the start of the initiative

The motivations for the Plan were based on the response that must be given to the continuous increase in the environmental powers of the Town Councils and the unconnected and fragmented assessment of provincial environmental policies and strategies.

The Provincial Councils are Local Entities recognised legally and determined by groups of Municipal Districts (78 for the Province of Cordoba), with their own legal capacity, autonomy for the management of their interests in their territorial scope and the full capacity for complying with their aims. These are:

• Ensuring the integrated and appropriate provision in the whole provincial territory of the services on a municipal power level.
  
• Participating in the co-ordination between the Local Administration and the Autonomous and State Administrations.

The relationships between the administrations prior to the Plan created scant links for the co-ordination, in particular with the Department of the Environment of the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia there was no framework agreement for collaboration. Some agreements arose with the University of Cordoba, the Foundation for Spanish Railways, the Andalusian Mountain Federation or the "Esculapio" Foundation.

The province of Cordoba, with a population of 758,394 inhabitants and an extension of 13,732 km2, has an economy linked basically to the agricultural and livestock sector and the services sector, although it has several industrial potentials, and an environmental wealth based on landscapes as different as Mediterranean woods, the cereal producing countryside and the cultivation of olives. The most outstanding environmental problems are rural depopulation, erosion, episodes of drought and floods, pollution from urban waste water, solid urban waste, uncontrolled tipping with rubble from works, scarcity of green belt, incidence of economic activities on the population's welfare (work risks, noise and vibrations, etc..).

The Provincial Council of Cordoba, in 1994, posed the creation of an Environment Service, which was not defined until the approval of the Plan. Its budget at that time was not very large.

The Plan, drawn up by the Delegation for the Environment and Civil Protection of the Provincial Council of Cordoba, made it possible to provide an answer to the environmental powers of this Public Entity and it controls it in a lasting way and with similar criteria of sustainability towards the Town Councils in the province. It involves integrating Environmental Management in its Overall Administrative Management work.

Second thematic block: Preparing the information and clarifying priorities

The priorities set out by the Delegation for the Environment and Civil Protection for defining the Plan, start out from the performance of a survey on the environmental situation of the municipal districts of Cordoba. The goals that the Plan established in the short-term were:

1. Overcoming the environmental shortcomings and environmental management imbalances in the Province with different corrective measures: Guideline Plans of Actions, environmental facilities, environmental quality control, Environmental Education.
   

2. Establishing preventive measures for avoiding imbalances (rules, regulations and environmental assessment, Environmental Education).
   

3. Managing and promoting the enjoyment of local natural heritage.
   

4. Supporting compliance with environmental legislation in force.
   

5. Favouring the Administrative Co-ordination between different sectors.
   

6. Supporting the competitiveness of the local economy with environmental improvements and the incorporation of criteria for sustainability.
   

7. Improving the integration of business and citizen participation in the definition and defence of the model for Sustainable Development (Local Agenda 21) and inform and train the administrative staff and citizens in general for greater efficiency of the municipal services.
   

8. Supporting the co-ordination for the project "Healthy Cities".

The implementation of the Plan develops the following lines of action for the Provincial Council.

1. Definition of powers of the Environmental Service.
   

2. Development of instruments for environmental management for helping the municipal districts:
   
   1. The Provincial Company for Water of Cordoba S.A. (EMPROACSA) for the management of the integrated water cycle.
      
   2. The Provincial Company for Waste and the Environment S.A. (EPREMASA) for the management and treatment of waste.
      
   3. The Provincial Board for Citizen Participation for improving citizen participation.
      

3. Channelling of agreements between administrations. The association arises with the Department of the Environment of the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia.
   

4. Call for subsidies for specific initiatives for Town Councils, groups and companies.
   

5. Development of campaigns for citizen awareness about andalusian and provincial environmental management. The association was formed called the Federation of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia and the "Esculapio" Foundation.
   

6. Repair and signposting of Long Distance Walkways. The association appears with the Andalusian Mountain Federation.
   

7. Search for social participation. The association appeared with the Woods of the Earth Foundation for carrying out initiatives for reforestation linked to Environmental Voluntary Work.
   

8. Search for financial support. The collaboration appears with banking institutions such as the one with CAJASUR Building Society.

Formulation of objectives, strategies and mobilisation of resources

The basic objective of the Plan is to ensure the protection of human health, the preservation, in quantity and quality, of the resources that sustain the living conditions of human settlements in the province (air, water, soil, climate, species of natural and farming flora and fauna, raw materials, urban and rural habitat, and in general, the defence and improvement of our natural and cultural heritage), and counting on the essential citizen participation for promoting Sustainable Development. This is translated into the following general objectives:

• Improvement of environmental quality in the municipal districts with a rural and urban sustainable environments.
  
• Co-ordinating the administrative relations for an improvement of the living conditions for human settlements.
  
• Helping to give a response to the legal and moral power demands for the Town Councils.
  
• Implementing the Environmental Management Systems which the Plan includes.

1. Programme for Quality of the Air.
   
2. Programme for the Management of Solid Wastes.
   
3. Programme for Supply, Use, Sewage and Treatment of Water.
   
4. Programme for Control of Animals, Plagues and undesired Vectors.
   
5. Programme for Improvement and promotion of Parks, Gardens and Municipal Natural Environments.
   
6. Programme for Environmental Prevention in the Opening of Activities.
   
7. Programme "Support for the Preparation, Modification and Execution for Municipal Town Planning".
   
8. "Municipal Network for Protected Natural Spaces" Programme.
   
9. "Relations with the European Union" Programme.
   
10. "Green Pathways in Cordoba" Programme.
    
11. "Support for the Reforestation of Forestry Areas and Humid Areas" Programme.
    
12. "Urban Perimeter Parks" Programme.
    
13. "Regulation of Uncontrolled Tips" Programme.
    
14. "Ancient Cattle Tracks in Cordoba" Programme.
    
15. "Pathways in Cordoba" Programme.
    
16. "Occupational Training" Programme.
    
17. "Healthy Cities" Programme.
    
18. Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Programme.
    
19. "Local Emergencies Plan" Programme.
    
20. Provincial Analysis of Environmental Risks Programme.
    
21. Work Risks Programme.
    
22. Road Safety in Centres of Population Programme.
    
23. Participation Programme.
    
24. Research and Development Programme.
    
25. Training and Qualification Programme.
    
26. Environmental Education and Communications Programme.
    
27. Institutional Co-operation and Co-ordination Programme.

• With the Department of the Environment of the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia for the preparation of the Provincial Guideline Plan for Rubble and Waste from Works, with a cost of Pesetas 4,000,000 over two years.
  
• With the Federation of Protected Natural Spaces of Andalusia for the AMBIENTALIA 5000 awareness campaign, aimed a municipal districts with less than 5,000 inhabitants. Its cost stands at Pesetas 23,876,000 in two years.
  
• With the University of Cordoba for the study of Public Fountains, Parks and Gardens, plagues of Termites and for the building project for the Green Pathway through the Countryside. Their cost is Pesetas 11,000,000 over two years.
  
• With the Andalusian Mountain Federation for the repair and signposting of Long Distance pathways. Its cost is Pesetas 12,000,000 over three years.
  
• With the Forests of the Earth Foundation for the study of the needs for reforestation and viability of a network of regional nurseries. Its cost is Pesetas 1,650,000 in one year. The human resources that the Environment Service has which is in charge of implementing the Plan are an Agricultural Technical Engineer, two Graduates in Biology and two Administrative Assistants.

Process

The Good Practice is formed by three phases:

• Phase I: Performance of a Provincial survey on the environmental situation of the municipal districts and the preparation of the Provincial Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development 1997-2000.
  

• Phase II: Approval of the Plan.
  

• Phase III: Definition of the functions of the Environmental Service and the setting up of the Integrated Environmental Management System as a set of long-lasting initiatives for ongoing improvement.

• New language with respect to the Integrated Environmental Management System.
  
• Increase in the co-ordination between areas in the Provincial Council and with the municipal districts.
  
• Needs for external financing.
  
• Scarce references in the use of Codes of Good Environmental Practices for improving the initiatives at work.
  
• Scant consideration of the environmental variables by the chain of institutions, companies, groups and/or citizens which participate in the development of the Plan.

Results achieved
The objectives considered are generating actions for technical and financial assistance for municipal districts, environmental training and information and environmental planning for the correction of environmental imbalances in the management which improves the living conditions of the provincial human settlements.

The impacts of the initiative are positive as a whole which may be shown by:

• The initiatives from the Provincial Council have a reference in the criteria for sustainability provided by the Plan.
  
• The continuous appearance and good reception in the mass media.
  
• The interest in the results of the Plan shown by other Provincial Council Services and Town Councils in the Province (Baena, Torrecampo, Encinarejo, Dos Torres, La Carlota, Santaella, ...) and by technicians and politicians from other Andalusian Provincial Councils (Cadiz, Jaen, Granada, Seville, Huelva, Malaga, Almeria) which are interested in extrapolating the experience.

• Improvement in the co-operation with the Town Councils, the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia, the Provincial Department for Citizen Participation and with the rest of the services in the Provincial Council.
  

• The dimension of powers suited to the environmental variable.
  

• Increase in the interest in environmental information and training and in citizen participation.
  

• Good acceptance from the mass media.

• On a local level, the Town Councils find a better reference for the Provincial Council's environmental initiative and an innovative
  experiment that may be extrapolated to their municipal management. The Plan manages the actions of the Environment Service belonging to the environment and Civil Protection Department at the Provincial Council of Cordoba, which controls how the implementation of the Integrated Environmental Management system is being developed.
  

• On an autonomous government level, the different Departments at the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia find it to be a tool that improves the co-operation with the Local Administration of the Province.
  

• On a national level, the Plan offers a situation with an advantage for using European Funds.

The citizens' attitudes and behaviours are now taking on the elements of participation in the Plan: lines of subsidies, initiatives in Environmental Education and Training, facts,
concepts and principles from the Plan and the Integrated Environmental Management System.

The impact of the Plan on decision-making is the following:

• Town Councils and groups: the annual programme for subsidies for carrying out pertinent environmental initiatives.
  

• Small and Medium-Sized Companies: the aid for ecological design and development of sustainable products.
  

• Groups: annual programme of guided visits to natural spaces and environmental facilities in the Province.
  

• Institutions from the Autonomous Regional Government of Andalusia: development of co-operation agreements, such as the one made with the Environment department for the preparation of the Provincial Guideline Plan for Rubble and Waste from Works.

Sustainability

The different elements in the Plan define criteria of sustainability for the initiative within the powers of the Provincial Council of Cordoba:

• Provincial policy and strategy for the environment.
  
• Environmental challenge.
  
• Short, medium and long-term goals.
  
• Durability of the initiatives.
  
• Integrated Environmental Management System.
  
• Citizen participation.

In this sense, socially, financially and culturally, the Plan takes into account sustainability in the planning of the work of the Local Public Administration, in the orientation of business activities and in the consideration of the population's lifestyles.

The formula included in the Plan is an Integrated Environmental Management System which ensures:

• A long-lasting and improvable sustainability.
  
• The improvement of institutional co-ordination and co-operation in the future.
  
• The extrapolation of the experiment to other municipal (Town Councils), provincial (Provincial Councils), national and international scopes.
  
• The execution of agreement for business and citizen participation.

• Funds from the European Union.
  
• Funds from the National Environmental Plan.
  
• Funds from the Autonomous regional Government of Andalucia.
  
• Joint financing with the Town councils.
  
• Contribution from the private sector and credit institutions.

Lessons learnt

The references considered for the Plan come from Environmental Management Systems from private companies, environmental audits from Spanish municipal districts performed over the last few years and experiences regarding Integrated Environmental Management Systems from certain Town Councils in Andalusia linked to the consultancy for the Technological Park in Malaga.

The incorporation of these lessons allows the Plan an overall view and lets it develop an efficient initiative. The lessons learnt are shown in the elements of the Plan:

1. Proposal.
   
2. Initial check.
   
3. Provincial Strategy for the Environment.
   
4. Establishment of an Environmental Policy.
   
5. Record of legislation.
   
6. Objectives and goals.
   
7. Management programme.
   
8. Organisation and staff.
   
9. Operational control and assessment.
   
10. External communications.

Transfer

The potential for transfer for the Plan, through its overall view and efficient action, is considered to be optimum as a whole. The Plan may be extrapolated to other local, autonomous, national and international scopes.

Except for the Andalusian municipal districts that have implemented Integrated Environmental Management Systems, no similar initiatives are known about in Local or Autonomous Administration and much less so in Provincial Councils.

The aspects of this practice that may be used as an example are the following:

• Considering the elements of the Plan as those necessary for the incorporation of the principles for ongoing environmental improvement.
  

• Establishing a provincial policy towards Sustainable Development, which may continue to be introduced on smaller local scales.
  

• The improvements in the co-ordination between administrations.
  

• The appropriate effect on the training and qualifications of the human resources.

References:

Ruiz, Araceli (1997) "The Provincial Council presents the Ist Provincial Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development". ( 19-07-1997. Page 12)

Verd, Rafael( 1997) "The Provincial Council explains to Mayors and institutions the provincial plan for the environment" (. Local daily newspaper "Córdoba". 26-10-1997. Page 17.)

Marqués Ruiz, José Luis (1997) "Overall analysis, local action" ( Local daily newspaper "Córdoba". 30-12-1997. Page 13.)

Elias Casado, Francisco J. Sánchez Polaina & Reyes Lozano Nebot (1998) "Provincial Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development 1997-2000 from the Provincial Council of Cordoba" ( Provincial Council of Cordoba (Editors) I.S.B.N.: 84-8154-937-1. 127 Pages.)

Alaminos, Javier, Arena, María D., González, María B., González, E., Guerrero, C.C. & Jiménez, Rosario (1997) Environmental management in the Province of Cordoba (. AMBIENTALIA 5000 Training Booklet. Federation of Protected Natural Spaces in Andalusia. (Editors). 3rd Edition. Pages 64-114.)

Marqués Ruiz, José Luis (1998) "Vital balance" ( Local daily newspaper "Córdoba". 22-03-98. Page 73.)

Casado, Elias, Lozano, Reyes & Sánchez Polaina, Francisco José, (1997) Provincial Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development 1997-2000 ( Minutes from the IInd Iberian Congress of Environmental Biologists Badajoz, 19-21 Nov. 1997. In press.)