ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a description of the development of LA21 in Italy, both at the central and local levels of government. In 1997, the Italian Senate passed a formal resolution that bound the government to adopt measures in favour of sustainability in accordance with the renewed commitments made at the Earth Summit in 1997. The MoE and ENEA are developing a project with the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) for a national observatory for the urban environment, which will also be responsible for collecting data. Local and regional authorities hold a number of legal powers in fields relevant to LA21, such as environmental, social and land use policies. The province plans to follow up the forum and develop the contents of the guidelines by integrating suitable actions into the provincial department's policies. In 1998, the WWF-Italy and Avanzi survey reported the presence of 24 local or regional authorities that claimed to have at least begun an LA21 initiative.
