ABSTRACT
Although Germany has earned the reputation of being a pioneer in many areas of environmental policy (Andersen and Liefferink 1997: 26-27) it was clearly a latecomer in crafting a national sustainable development strategy. Despite its inclusion on the national political agenda since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, no strategy was adopted in Germany until 2002 (Bundesregierung 2002). The consideration of this issue from a national perspective, however, neglects the fact that Germany is a federal state. Several Länder (federal states), such as North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, had launched sustainable development initiatives before the national government took action. The Länder governments also supported Local Agenda 21 (LA21) initiatives from the outset. While the first agenda transfer agencies were set up in 1996 in NRW and 1997 in Bavaria, the National Service Agency for Local Agenda 21 (Bundesweite Servicestelle Lokale Agenda 21) was not established until 2002.
