EcoEuskadi 2020

Strategy for Sustainable Development

July 5, 2011

EcoEuskadi 2020 Sustainable Development Strategy

Index

1EcoEuskadi 2020: A strategic window to a sustainable future

Work process

Extensive and intensive participatory process

2The EcoEuskadi 2020 Strategy: Mission

3EcoEuskadi 2020 Vision

4Guiding principles

5Strategic objectives

6Lines of Action

7Transversal focuses

8EcoEuskadi 2020 control panel

9Management model

10Guidelines for incorporating sustainability criteria in sectoral policies

1EcoEuskadi 2020:A strategic window to a sustainable future

Introduction

"EcoEuskadi 2020 is a transversal tool designed to advance towards a new model of sustainable progress that allows for a balanced development of the country with lower resource consumption, and from which we will promote one of the main engines for change towards this new economy in which bonds between economic growth, social welfare and conserving our environmental assets are appropriately linked (...)"
Patxi López, President of the Basque Country

On June 5, 2009, in the presentation of the so-called "Declaration of Urdaibai", the President of the Basque Country expressed his intention to lead a new development model - a transversal and integrating pillar of the political action of the Basque Government, gathered in the EcoEuskadi 2020 instrument.

The EcoEuskadi 2020 instrument,included as an emblematic initiative within the significant Calendar of Plans and Actions for the 9th Legislature,[1] is the Strategy for Sustainable Development in the Basque Country up to the year 2020. It establishes the strategic objectives that encompass sectoral plans from the sustainability perspective. EcoEuskadi 2020 will serve to deepen the concept of "Sustainable Development" and to assimilate its implications when designing departmental and sectoral policies.

Sustainability is an interrelated and global concept that must be managed according to a political commitment that is appropriate to each territorial area, exceeding a specific territory. Therefore, the Basque Country must unavoidably coordinate its own strategy for sustainable development with international strategies and commitments, essentially with the Europe 2020 Strategy.[2] Furthermore, it has to converge with the sustainable development strategies of the three territories it comprises(the Biscay Programme 21 2011-2016, the Gipuzkoa Strategy 2020-2030 and the Strategic Sustainable Development Plan for Álava 2011-2015),as well as with the local sustainability processes of the towns, developed through the Local Agenda 21.

By virtue of its transversal nature, the EcoEuskadi 2020 instrument is devoted to articulate public actions towards the project of a country that is economically competitive, innovative and eco-efficient, social united and jointly responsible, committed to the quality of the assets and resources of its natural heritage.

Process for developing the Strategy

The process for developing the EcoEuskadi 2020 Strategy was led by the President of the Basque Country, Patxi López, and boosted by several multidepartmental and multiinstitutional committees. The following operational organisms had been established:

Interdepartmental Committee, formed by Deputy Ministers of the Basque Government.

Interinstitutional Committee, formed by representatives from the three provincial councils, from Eudel (Association of Basque Municipalities) and the economic, social and environmental areas of the Basque Government.

Monitoring Committee, made up of senior officials of the Basque Presidency, the Department of the Environment and Ihobe, the operative body behind the EcoEuskadi 2020 initiative, responsible for proposing the methodology and assigning the technical, organisational and economic resources necessary to develop the entire process.

Technical Committee, formed by technical staff from the different Departments of the Basque Government.

Technical Secretariat, coordinated by the Basque Government's Environmental Management Authority (Ihobe).

Considering the synergies that have been set out and the excellent results obtained from this organisational model, it has to be kept in force, to deploy, assess and monitor EcoEuskadi 2020 in the context of the Sustainable Development Office.[3]

A noteworthy feature is the commitment to gather the maximum number of agents and citizens participating as possible, as a differentiating and structuring factor of the entire process. In order to build the EcoEuskadi 2020 strategy bottom-up. For that purpose, different onsite and virtual participation channels were created throughout the process, that complemented and redirected the work of the committees. Those channels were one of the main characteristics and most highly valued elements when developing the Strategy.

Work process

The methodology followed to develop the Euskadi 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development fully conformed to the slogan "the process is as important as its content". Actually, great prominence was given to the participation of social, economic and institutional agents and to the public in general (particularly young people), almost continuously throughout the process.[4]

Figure 1. Synthesis of the development process of the Strategy for Sustainable Development EcoEuskadi 2020

The process itself has followed three clearly defined phases. The first, which we could call the preparation, began in May 2010 and tackled the creation of the aforementioned committees and the initial methodological documents; the second phase of diagnosis lasted from October 2010 to February 2011 and finalised with the identification of eight keys to safeguard the sustainability of development in the Basque Country. Finally the third phase, concluded in June 2011, consisted of preparing the Strategy itself. Both final phases were strongly supported by extensive and in-depth public participation processes that have allowed the different social agents and the public in general to contribute to a true construction process from the base; specific proposals that have been included in the Strategy.

The diagnosis phase was developed on the basis of three documents:[5]

  • Scenarios 2030. Implications for the Basque Country, based on recognised macro trends in a series of fields that directly affect the framework of action in the Basque Country.
  • Euskadi 2011 sustainable development indicators, putting into figures the main parameters that define sustainability, aligned with the European indicators in use.
  • Situation diagnosis for a sustainable Basque Country in 2020, based on the sectoral analysis prepared by the different departments of the Basque government, those prepared to develop the sustainable development strategies of the three Historical Territories, as well as other documents available on sustainability (E.g.: Basque President's Advisory Council on Socio-economic Affairs).

These documents prepared by the Technical Committee have been contrasted by the Interdepartmental and Interinstitutional Committees mentioned above.

The situation diagnosis highlights how our system faces three great threats that, lacking an appropriate response, will gradually but inexorably lead to the depletion of the welfare system:

 The first involves depletion of resources that are scarce (energy, other raw materials, food, water) and ever more in dispute due to the growing number of countries in global markets, which obliges us to redefine the basis of competitiveness in our productive industry in an open and globalised world.

  • The second threat, closely linked to the current energy model, is climate change. Mitigating climate change requires a radical change of the energy model based on fossil fuels. Despite the possible change of energy model, climate change will produce effects to which we must adapt, beyond the 2020 horizon, and generally given the greater frequency of extreme atmospheric phenomena.
  • The third is linked to our demographic evolution, which leads us to a situation that is stationary and possibly, beyond 2020, regressive of the population volume.

These are threats that we also share with other regions but that require specific solutions by each region.

On the interaction of these three great threats with our socio-economic reality,the diagnosis concludes with the identification of nine challenges to the sustainability of the Basque Country[6] that were contrasted with the general public in participatory session.[7] As a result of this contrast, the phase ended with the identification of the following for a sustainable Basque Country in the year 2020:

  1. Scarce natural resources and in the process of depletion
  2. Energy dependence and climate change
  3. Globalisation of competition
  4. Profound demographic changes
  5. Unbalanced generational change
  6. Fragility of a changing system of values
  7. Unsustainable mobility and transport
  8. Unequal international development

Based on the agreed key aspects, since late February 2011 we have built the Euskadi 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development. During this last phase, the participatory processes were held parallel to the work undertaken by the different committees, and have continuously contributed to the process of drafting the Strategy. Each of the groups or individuals has submitted their input in relation to what they consider must be a more sustainable Basque Country and the specific lines of action and proposals to achieve this. In this way, the drafting has followed a bottom-up outline, searching for the involvement of the greatest number of agents possible, maximum consensus and including the different sensitivities that make up Basque society.

The process was enriched with the contributions of the technical staff of the Government Departments through idea and line of action contribution sessions in interdepartmental forums to combine the focuses on:

Economic and Environmental Sustainability (Economy, Industry, Environment and Agriculture and Energy, Transport, Education).

Social Sustainability (Health, Employment and Social Services, Economy).

Governance (Presidency, Education, Economic, Public Administration).

After the contrast in the participatory process undertaken in May 2011,[8] the body of the Strategy developed throughout this text was built.

It is noteworthy the work carried out throughout the process by the Basque President's Advisory Council on Socio-economic Affairs, as a permanent contrasting organism throughout the drafting of EcoEuskadi 2020, and also Innobasque, the Basque Innovation Agency, which acted as a coordinator for the deployment of the participatory process.

Finally, it should be noted that the Basque Economic and Social Council reported on the Sustainable Development Strategy Project on June 8, 2011 and considered it appropriate to be processed. The Economic Development Committee of this Council, who worked on the EcoEuskadi 2020 strategy, incorporated in the report a series of observations that have mostly been included in this Strategy.

Extensive and intensive participatory process

The participatory process has had great relevance when drafting this Strategy, and it has been a conditioning element thereof. The Basque Government provided forums for participatory reflection and cooperation (active co-creation) in order to gather the opinions and stances of young people, businessesmen, social bodies, institutions and general public.

The intensity and extent of the participation came to prove a consensus on the need and urgency of developing a Sustainable Development Strategy for Euskadi 2020 with a long-term vision, in order to pursue action on the unsustainable trends of the current system.

The participation process can be summarised in the following figures:

  • 50 physical and virtual participatory forums.
  • 78 onsite meetings or workshops held.
  • 388 entities represented.
  • 2,502 attendees and 2,368 people taking part; of them, 1,616 young people.
  • 832 users of the open spaces online and on social networks.
  • And over 9,350 hours of participatory work dedicated to the EcoEuskadi 2020 strategy.

To do this, we followed two different channels:

  • A traditional in-person channel.
  • A virtual channel, based on social networks.

All the information prepared is available on the website ,which is also the permanent reference for the communicative and participatory process.

The institutional vision was also represented by the committees that make up the process:the Town Councils through Udalsarea 21 (the Basque Network of Municipalities for Sustainability), the departmental and interdepartmental sessions of the different Basque Government Departments, as well as the different Basque universities and Q Epea (the Network of Public Entities for Excellence).

The contribution of socio-economic agents was provided by Izaite (Basque companies for sustainability), Bai+ (Forum for reflection for sustainability of Eusko Ikaskuntza/Basque Studies Society), Garapen (Association of Basque Development Agencies), and Technological Centres, among others.

Building a project for the future must significantly take into account young people with special attention to educational centres. There have been work sessions in the University of Deusto, University of Mondragón and the University of the Basque Country / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, in vocational training centres and in secondary schools in the three territories, as well as different youth associations.

Finally, the contribution of Basque society was channelled through the website and main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tuenti, Open Ideiak, etc.), with the support and coordination of the Office of Open Government and Communication on the Internet, attached to the Presidency of the Basque Government. Furthermore, these public participation channels were complemented with Local Agenda 21 forums in different municipalities and regions, as well as the work of several NGOs.

As a differentiating feature, we opened a complementary and innovative public participation channel to gather social discourse on sustainability in the Basque Country, and to approach this concept from a public perspective. For this purpose, we developed a qualitative methodology (Future Workshops) that allowed us to know the depth and development of social discourse, through group dynamics with people of different characteristics, based on three parameters (Historical Territory, age and rural/urban environment). The results show the positive but distant or remote nature that citizens attributes to the concept of sustainable development, linked to responsibility towards the future and particularly to the environment and energy model. However, there is a distinct lack of association between sustainable development and aspects of economic and social cohesion.

This process gave rise to a pioneering quantitative study[9] related to Quality of life and Sustainability, its main findings show for example that the weighting given by Basque society to economic, social and environmental aspects in relation to the concept of quality of life are well balanced. Employment and the competitiveness of Basque companies in a global market are perceived as key aspects of the future, the study also detected a special sensitivity to promoting and aiding the primary sector in the Basque Country. The ageing population and low birth rate have an average relevance on the scale of importance. Intergenerational and international joint-responsibility is another outstanding aspect, most are aware that current consumption of resources jeopardises the welfare of future generations and of the need to support the poorest countries.

Due to the impact it had on the development of the Strategy, as an element to display the input received, the description of the participatory process and the results obtained will be object of an additional document that completes EcoEuskadi 2020.

Outline of the Strategy

Figure 2. Outline of the Sustainable Development Strategy, EcoEuskadi 2020

The Euskadi 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development has been structured following the outline shown in the triangle of the figure:

  • Mission. The rationale of the Strategy. Reflects the national project towards which the Basque Country wishes to advance.
  • Vision. Direction or purpose of a conscious desire. Reflects how we want to see ourselves and be seen by 2020.
  • Guiding principles. Basic principles that should guide institutional policies and leadership.
  • Strategic Objectives. Derived directly from the vision, they reflect the partial goals that must be developed in order to advance towards this vision.
  • Lines of Action.Main actions proposed to advance towards the Strategic Objectives outlined.
  • Transversal Focuses. Priority areas of action that impact simultaneously on the three dimensions of sustainability. They require vertical and horizontal coordination by the Administration and may become bottlenecks in the progress towards the strategic objectives.

The Strategy is completed with three chapters of the utmost importance:

  • The control panel, with three types of indicators (the head, policy monitoring and progress in Strategy management) that allow us to make a direct reading of the evolution of sustainability and is the basis to assess the effectiveness of the Strategy.
  • The management model, which establishes the procedure for monitoring, assessing and periodically revising EcoEuskadi 2020.
  • Guidelines for incorporating sustainability criteria into sectoral policies, which includes the criteria to be used to incorporate the principles of sustainability in the policies of the Basque Administration.

Finally, the Strategy has four annexes, with the following content:

  1. Aligning the Government plans with the strategic objectives of the 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development.
  2. Fitting the EcoEuskadi 2020 strategic objectives with the objectives of the sustainable development plans of the Provincial Councils.
  3. Synthesis of the participatory process.
  4. Citizenship and sustainable development.

As previously mentioned, the special characteristic of the participation process and the impact it has had on the development of the Strategy will be object of an additional document that complements the Euskadi 2020 Strategy for Sustainable Development.

Finally, it is necessary to deploy a guide to detail the guidelines for incorporating sustainability criteria in the sectoral policies and strategies.

2The EcoEuskadi 2020 Strategy: Mission

The mission of the EcoEuskadi 2020 Strategy is to serve as an integration platform for all the sectoral policies of the Government and other Public Administrations to create an explicit national project with public participation, agreeinga set of objectives, guidelines and principles that guarantee economic, social and environmental sustainability, establishing benchmarks that allow the progress made to be regularly assessed.

This formulation implies…

  • Serving as a platform to integrate all the Government's sectoral policies:

EcoEuskadi 2020 does not intend, in principle, to include new actions but to seek the integration and coherence of the different Government strategies.

  • And of the other Public Administrations:

And also of the Provincial and Town Councils, therefore its participation, given the distribution of competence between the different levels of administration, is essential to achieve its goals.