S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T
Slovenia, "the Green Piece of Europe" is the new slogan for Slovenia's tourist promotion campaign. It reflects the fact that this small country represents one of the greatest examples of ecological and landscape diversity in Central Europe. It also reflects the people's pride with the nature they have inherited, and of their emotional attachment to it. Behind this slogan, however, there are two pressing questions: How green and how sustainable is the existing development trend of Slovenia; and how can we preserve or even improve the natural environment for future generations without having to sacrifice economic development or quality of life? Agenda 21 for Slovenia, a recent project coordinated by Umanotera, the Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development, tackles the difficult, and often paradoxical issue of sustainable development.
Some government officials see the concept of sustainable development as somewhat utopian, while others are simply unaware. As a result there is no activity in this direction on the government level - no council, no strategy, no research. The country is rushing headlong into a free-market economy without considering the sustainable alternatives.
National workshops were held at which participants identified key environmental problems and barriers in the way of sustainability in Slovenia. The number one problem identified was the lack of a holistic approach in our society: from politics and science to everyday life. This results in "solutions" to specific problems showing up as new problems elsewhere. In order to harmonize the necessary social changes with the principles of sustainable development, reform must be approached on three different levels simultaneously - cultural, institutional, economic - with full awareness of the interrelationships within the system.
The next step was to search for solutions. Participants produced an action plan for NGOs. Four workshops, condensed reproductions of the national ones, were also organized by local NGOs to compare local situations with the national framework.
Following the second national workshop, a small group of dedicated individuals worked together on the framework strategy for sustainable development under the title Agenda 21 for Slovenia - A Contribution of Non-Governmental Organizations. The document was based on workshop discussions, with a more in-depth analysis of the present state of development in various sectors in Slovenia. The structure follows the cultural, institutional and economic aspects of sustainability identified in the workshops. Participating NGO members were consulted on the draft before it was finally edited and sent to print.
The document was presented to the public on 19 June 1995, and the response was very positive. Pavel Gantar, the Slovenia's minister of environment, announced that the document would be useful in drafting the National Environmental Protection Program. Zare Pregelj, chairman of the Parliamentary Council on Environment and Infrastructure, expressed the desire of the parliament to study the proposed strategy and to possibly commission a more in-depth study on the transition towards sustainable development.
Despite the support, it is evident that the initiative will not come from the government - either national or local. They prefer to go on in the spirit of "business as usual" and do not respond to the clear commitments of Agenda 21: that "sustainable development is primarily the responsibility of governments."
Civil society recognizes that it too shares global responsibility for a "fundamental change to replace unsustainable patterns of production and consumption." For that reason, producing an NGO policy document was not the project's only goal; the real goal is to stimulate discussion among NGOs and the wider public, and particularly among the decisionmakers who are shaping the planet's future.