ABSTRACT
In Manizales, a plan for local environmental action, an interesting scheme of joint environmental management, is developing, linked to the principles of Agenda 21. The priorities of urban environmental policy were centred on: Colombia's urban environmental policy proposed developing local environmental action plans as the main means of implementing Local Agenda 21. The first community environmental agenda was developed and environmental priorities for Manizales were established. As a result, IDEA and the Autonomous University of Manizales, using the environmental quality traffic lights methodology, technical advances in information technology and georeferenced information, with technical support from the United Nations' ECLA and financial assistance from the Italian government, designed a system of urban environmental observatories for Manizales. Manizales’ own historical development is described, including the environmental changes that this development brought and the environmental problems that it precipitated. The municipality of Manizales lies in the tropical zone, to the west of the Andes, Colombia’s central mountain range.
