From Xabía al Día – Thursday 26th January 2006
Translated by Maggie Morgan
Jávea town council has signed a contract with the environment consultancy IMEDES, which managed A21 for Teulada, giving it responsibility for the new phase of the Agenda 21 for the town.
The consultancy replaces PYEMA, which was entrusted with the initiation of the process in Jávea and the realisation of a social and environmental audit. IMEDES´ representative Verónica Garcia met with the representatives of the participating ´round tables´ and the Councillor for Citizen Participation Pepa Gisbert to explain the new strategy to be followed.
Up to this point, the Agenda 21 in Jávea has functioned thanks almost exclusively to the efforts of citizens who participated in it. A great deal of the work carried out has consisted in the compilation of information, in addition to making proposals for the future of the municipality at a social, economic and environmental level.
From now on IMEDES takes on the compilation of the work carried out by the four A21 ´tables´ ie socio-cultural, the economy, territory & the environment and youth, with the aim of structuring it and putting it in order. Without doubt, many of the proposals from the different ´tables´ will co-incide, so it will be necessary to group them. The proposals of the A21 will be analysed, discarding those already under way or those not coming under municipal authority.
In addition, the Commission 21 will be constituted, which will be made responsible for filtering all the proposals to be presented to the council meetings of the corporation. The Commission 21 will be made up of representatives of each ´table´, municipal technicians and politicians from each of the municipal groups. The technicians will evaluate the viability of the proposals and the politicians should demonstrate their commitment to the A21. This should result in a transparency of management.
Pepa Gisbert also announced that the A21 webpage for Jávea will be reactivated soon, in addition to the creation of an information and education campaign to increase the extent of the process among the citizens.
In this respect also, the new logo for the A221 was presented, consisting of an image of the ´barracas´ (shacks) in the Cala of Portichol. The previous logo will be used in the school campaigns for the dissemination of the A21.
In relation to the drawing up of the General Town Plan of Jávea, the Councillor for Urbanisation, Rafa Bas, stressed his commitment to taking into account the participation of citizens in the Agenda 21. According to Bas, the most important challenges for the Agenda 21 are “the revision of the General Town Plan and the relevant budgets.”
The A21 comprises a series of action plans, agreed by the citizens, checked by technicians and put into practice by politicians. A21 is a procedure which continuously develops and redevelops, thanks to citizen participation. Through A21 a sustainable development of the municipality is aimed at, that is one which is of benefit today but at the same time does not compromise development in future generations. With this kind of participative democracy, municipal management becomes more transparent and the citizen more involved, as much as in the management as in the care of the municipality.
