Review: GREEN HOUR: “VON WAGING AM SEE BIS HARARE – LOKALES ENGAGEMENT FÜR UMWELT UND NACHHALTIGKEIT IN INTERKOMMUNALER PERSPEKTIVE” (DR. NADJA HENDRIKS)

How did the sustainability goals that were formulated by the UN and EU in the early 1990ies affect local agendas during that decade? Nadja Hendriks compared various Bavarian communes to identify the factors that contributed to successful implementation of sustainability measures. A clear and positive message from political leaders and the support from organizations like Deutscher Städtetag turned out to be central to put things in motion. But it was local actors and initiatives that provided content and played a leading role in implementing measures tailored to the needs of individual communes. Town twinning programs like the Munich-Harare partnership proved to be useful for communicating sustainability goals to countries in the global South. Two decades later, however, engagement for sustainability in Harare has declined due to changes in government and pressing short-term needs to increase resilience.