Sustainable Tourism Law

SUSTAINABILITY: THE PATH FROM STOCKHOLM TO THE EUROPEAN CHARTER 629 Part II concerns The European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign . The dominant concern is the development of long-term local action plans – the ones of Agenda 21 – cementing European cooperation concerning the urban environment. Part III includes the preparation stages for the Local Action Plans , namely the recognition of the existing planning and financial frameworks, identification of problems and their causes, the creation of a vision for a sustainable community 18 , the exam and evaluation of alternatives strategies for development and their respective timetable, as well as distributing responsibilities among their members to create a long-term local plan towards sustainability. I.2.4. Lisbon Conference and Habitat Agenda The Second European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns took place in Lisbon from 6 th to 8 th October 1996, therefore it is known as the Lisbon Conference. Approximately 1000 representatives of European local and regional authorities participated on the conference. The European Campaign of Sustainable Cities and Towns is divided into two parts. The first aims to disclose the local sustainability through the promotion of the Aalborg Charter, in which local authorities were invited to sign the Charter and join the Campaign. For this purpose, orientation regarding the process of Agenda 21 was given. The second part, launched on the Lisbon Conference, focuses on the execution of the principles established in the Charter, starting the process of Agenda 21 and the execution of the local sustainability plan. In Lisbon, the European local authorities contributed to the implementation of Agenda 21 (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul, 1996). In the Lisbon Conference of 1996, the participants approved the document “The Lisboa Action Plan: From Charter to Action”. It is based upon local experiences as reported and discussed at the 26 workshops that took place during the Conference and takes into consideration the principles and recommendations laid down in the Aalborg Charter, the “Step by Step Guide” from the UK Local Government Management Board, the Sustainable Cities Report from the European Commission’s Expert Group on the Urban Environment, and the Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. 18 Population participation is expected for the identification of problems.