Rural Action for the Environment in the UK: developing partnerships and promoting learning through networks

As the Rio Earth Summit emphasized, the resources and expertise needed to make a significant impact on many environmental problems are unlikely to be found in any single agency. Instead, tackling environmental problems requires first, a holistic approach-involving inputs from a wide range of separate agenciesand second needs to involve and engage local communities (United Nations 1992). The Rural Action for the Environment initiative-which was launched by the British Government in the wake of the Rio Summit-represented a radical attempt to establish formal partnerships between several public, private and voluntary agencies at the national and county levels in order to encourage and facilitate community-led environmental improvements.