Participating or just talking? Sustainable Development Councils and the implementation of Agenda 21

Paper SDCs Agenda21Sustainable Development Councils were among the few specific recommendations for institution building to come out of Rio in 1992. At their best the councils manifest Agenda 21's call for new participatory arrangements. At their worst they represent the frustrations and unmet challenges of the thirteen years since Rio. In this paper, Jonathan Rosenberg and Linus Spencer Thomas compare attempts to establish councils in three Caribbean states: Grenada, Dominica, and St. Lucia. The cases offer lessons in the survivability of deliberative bodies concerned with sustainable development policy and raise questions about their efficacy.

The full paper is available here.